PECTORAL SANDPIPER. Ill 



PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 



(Tringa pectoraUs, Boxap. Synops. et Am. Orn. iv. p. 43. pi. 23. fig. 

 2. [summer dress.] Pelidiia pectoraUs, Say, in Long's Expedition.) 



Sp. Charact. — Bill about the length of the head, compressed at 

 the sides, and dull reddish-yellow at the base ; rump black ; middle 

 tail feathers longest ; feet olive color, tarsus one inch long. — Sum- 

 mer plumage varied with black and rufous, beneath white ; breast 

 rufo-cinereous, lineated with blackish. Whiter dress, cinereous- 

 brown, beneath white ?. 



This conspicuous species of Sandpiper, first detected by 

 Mr. Say, is by no means uncommon in various parts of the 

 United States; migrating north, and perhaps west, to breed, 

 as they are common in the remote plains of the Mississippi, 

 and retire at the approach of winter to the southern limits 

 of the Union, being met with at this season also in the West 

 Indies. According to d'Azara and Bonaparte they are 

 found even in Brazil and at Montevideo. They are killed in 

 abundance on the shores of Cohasset, and other parts of 

 Massachusetts Bay, and are brought in numbers to the 

 market of Boston, being very fat and well flavored. They 

 arrive in flocks about the close of August, and continue 

 here, as well as in New Jersey, till the month of September, 

 and perhaps into October. In some instances, solitary 

 individuals have been killed in the marshes of Charles river, 

 in Cambridge, about the 22d of July ; these were in com- 

 pany with the flocks of small Sandpipers ( T. Wilsonii,) but, 

 whether pairs may perhaps breed in the neighboring marsh- 

 es, or not, we have not had the means of ascertaining. 



While here, they feed on small coleoptera, larvae, and the 

 common green XJlvalattissima, as well as some species of 

 Fucus or sea-weed, on which they become very fat. They 

 utter a low plaintive whistle when started, very similar to th 

 of some other species. Like the Snipe, they seem fond of 



