94 SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



Male : length 6, wing 3.65-3.90, bill .68-.75, tarsus .80-.90. Female : length 

 0.40, wing 3.85-4.00, bill .80-.92, tarsus .85-.95. 



Distribution. — Breeding from Labrador to Alaska, migrating through 

 the eastern and middle United States as far west as the Rocky Slountains 

 and Utah ; south to the West Indies and northern South America. 



Nest. — A slight depression in the ground, lined with grass and leaves. 

 Eggs : usually 4, light drab, spotted with brown. 



The semipalmated sandpiper is generally less commou than the 

 least, which it resembles in habits, general appearance, and small 

 size, but from which it can always be distinguished by the webbed 

 base of its toes. 



247. Ereunetes occidentalis Laur. Western Sandpiper. 

 Adults in summer. — Ear coverts, back of head, back, and rump bright 



chestnut, mottled with black and huffy gray ; breast thickly spotted with 

 dusky on gray, and sides Avitli a few dusky spots ; rest of under parts 

 ^. _™ " white. Adults in winter: upper parts dull gray, ob- 



scurely streaked with dusky ; under parts white, with 

 a few scattered triangular spots of dusky on breast 

 Fig. 112. j^j^^ sides. Young: back spotted with black and 



scalloped with dark chestnut and white ; chest tinged with pinkish buff; 

 rest of under parts white. Male : wing 3.60-3.75, bill .85-.95, tarsus .85- 

 .90. Female: wing 3.70-3.90, bill 1.00-1.15, tarsus .90-.95. 



Bistrihution. — Breeding in Alaska and British America, migrating 

 through western North America to Central and South America. Occa- 

 sional on the Atlantic coast in migrations. 



Nest. — A slight depression in bare or grassy ground. Eggs : usually 4, 

 deep cinnamon buff, spotted with rusty brown or chestnut. 



The western sandpiper is common along the Pacific coast during 

 migration, but scarce and irregular in the interior. 



GENUS CALIDRIS. 



248. Calidris arenaria {Linn). Sanderling. 



Toes only 3, short and flattened ; bill slender, about as long as tarsus ; 

 feet and legs black. Adults in summer : upi)er parts specked and 



spotted with black, gray, and 

 whitish, darkest on crown 

 and back ; whole under parts 

 y. JJ3 and bar on wing white. Adults ^^^ 



in icinter : upper parts hoary 

 gray, except blackish quills and bend of wing ; under parts snowy white. 

 Young : upper parts coarsely spotted with dusky and gray above ; imder 

 parts white, sparsely marked with dusky and huffy on chest. Length : 

 7.00-8.75, wing 4.70-5.00, bill .95-1.00, tarsus .90-1.05. 



Remarks. — In having but three toes the sanderling resembles the plov- 

 ers, but may be distinguished from them by its slender bill and trans- 

 versely scaled tarsus. 



Distribution. — Nearly cosmopolitan, but breeding only in arctic and 

 subarctic regions ; in America wintering from Texas and California south 

 to Chili and Patagonia. 



Nest. — A depression in the ground lined with grass and leaves. Eggs : 

 usually 4, light olive brown, spotted with various shades of brown. 



