SANDPIPERS. 103 



mage nankeen-brown ; the neck and sides of the head thickly striped 

 with dusky-brown ; the breast and flanks marked with arrow headed 

 spots of the same, which exist on the belly also, though smaller and 

 more scattered. Inner wing coverts and long axillaries, bright red- 

 dish-brown, barred with dark cinereous. Legs blackish-grey, tinged 

 with olive ; soles of the feet and margins of the toes olive. — Female, 

 with the color of the plumage paler, the spots and bars below, fainter, 

 and the general color below nearly rufous- white. Medial line on 

 the head obsolete. 



SANDPIPERS. (Trixga. Briss.) 



In this tribe of birds the bill is of moderate dimensions, or rather 

 long, slender, nearly cylindric, straight, or faintly curved, soft and 

 flexible its whole length, compressed at base, the point smooth, de- 

 pressed, somewhat dilated and obtuse ; both mandibles furrowed 

 each side, to their tips. Nostrils situated in the furrows, basal, 

 linear, pervious, and covered by a membrane. Feet 4 toed ; tarsus 

 slender ; fore toes rather long and slender, generally divided ; hind 

 toe very short, scarcely touching the ground. Wings moderate, 1st 

 primary longest. Tail rather short, of 12 feathers. 



The sexes similar in color, but the female somewhat larger. The 

 young differ from the adults. They moult twice in the year, greatly 

 changing the color of their plumage ; the autumnal dress is com- 

 monly a mixture of white and cinereous ; the dress of summer and 

 of the period of reproduction, being a mixture of the more decided 

 colors of black and rufous. 



These gregarious birds migrate and breed in flocks, often compos- 

 ed of different species, and dwell in marshes near rivers, lakes, and 

 particularly the vicinity of the ocean ; they frequent sandy coasts, 

 muddy shores', or the rocks covered with sea weeds, where they collect 

 their subsistence, consisting principally of coleoptera, larvae, worms, 

 small Crustacea, molluscous animals, and minute bivalve shell fish, 

 which they often probe out of their retreats, by inserting the point 

 of their flexible and somewhat sensitive bills ; accommodating them- 

 selves also to circumstances, they drink, and quench their thirst, \n- 

 differently with either salt or fresh water. They generally migrate 

 along the borders of the sea, but sometimes also follow the meanders of 



