184 TRINGA. SANDPIPER. 



nate ; third and fourth connected by a basal web. Claws 

 small, curved, compressed, obtuse. 



Plumage moderately full, soft, and rather blended, but on 

 the back and wings distinct. Wings very long, pointed ; 

 quills twenty-five ; primaries tapering, the first longest ; 

 secondaries short, incurved, but the inner elongated, one of 

 them nearly as long as the first primary when the wing is 

 closed. Tail short, of twelve narrowed feathers, generally 

 emarginate. 



The Sandpipers inhabit the sandy and muddy coasts of 

 the sea in autumn and winter, often collecting into large 

 flocks, and occasionally associating with Plovers, Sander- 

 lings, and other birds of a like nature. In summer they are 

 scattered over the moors and marshy districts of the northern 

 countries, where they breed, forming a shallow nest on the 

 ground, and depositing four pyriform, spotted eggs. The 

 young run about almost immediately after birth, and squat 

 when in danger. The food is obtained by probing the mud 

 or soft sand with their flexible bill, and consists of insects, 

 worms, and small testaceous mollusca. 



The males are considerably smaller than the females, and 

 in some species are distinguished by a difference of colour, or 

 by modification of the plumage. In the same species the 

 colours vary at different seasons, the winter plumage being 

 very different from that of summer, on which account great 

 confusion prevailed in this genus until M. Temminck and 

 some other modern writers accurately defined the variations 

 observed. 



The bird popularly known as Sandpiper, is of a different 

 genus, in which are species distinguished by different names. 

 But as every genus ought to have a generic name, vernacular 

 as well as scientific, if the term Sandpiper is to be employed, 

 it must be given exclusively to the genus Tringa or the 

 genus Actitis. The Tringse arc usually called Sandpipers, 

 and many ornithologists give them that name ; but if it be 

 appropriated by them, it is evident that it cannot be shared 

 by another genus. 



