i88 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



Top of head, back, scapulars, tertiaries, lesser wing-coverts and median upper tail-coverts, 

 bright reddish-brown or rusty, each feather with a black streak or spot; lower breast 

 and belly with a more or less extensive black patch, sometimes with a few whitish feathers 

 intermixed; chin, breast and sides, pure white or pale grayish-white with a very few narrow 

 black shaft stripes; sides of head, neck all round, and chest clear grayish-white, more or 

 less distinctly streaked with dusky, the breast spots often arrow-shaped. Adult in winter: 

 plain ash-gray above, without streaks or spots except some indistinct dusky shaft stripes; 

 median upper tail-coverts blackish, the lateral ones nearly white; forehead, chin and most 

 of under parts pure white or grayish white, the throat and chest more or less distinctly 

 streaked with darker ash; no trace of the abdominal black patch. Young: Similar to 

 winter adult, but feathers of back more or less margined with rusty or buff and tipped 

 with white. 



Length 7.60 to 8.75 inches; wing 4.30 to 4.75; culmen 1.15 to 1.40; tarsus .85 to 1. 



101. Semipalmated Sandpiper. Ereunetes pusillus {Linn.). (246) 



Synonyms: Peep, Sand-peep, Little Peep. — Tringa pusilla, Linn., 1766. — Tringa 

 semipalmata, Wils., Sw. and Rich., Aud. — Ereuntes pusillus of most authors. 



Very similar in coloration to the Least Sandpiper and of about the same 

 size (wing less than four inches), though the rump is ashy instead of black; 

 it can always be separated from the Least Sandpiper, however, by the fact 

 that the toes are plainly webbed at base. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, breeding north of the United 

 States; south in winter to the West Indies and South America. 



A common bird in migration, appearing and disappearing at about the 

 same times as the Least Sandpiper, with which it is often associated. It 

 frequents the same localities and has in all respects essentially similar 

 habits excepting that the Semipalmated Sandpiper has never been found 

 nesting within the United States. 



Butler states that in Indiana it is generally uncommon, but usually 

 more numerous in spring than the Least Sandpiper (Birds of Indiana, 

 1897, p. 715). In Wisconsin it is quite abundant during migrations, and 

 according to Kumlien and Hollister "so many are summer residents that 

 one usually gets the impression that it nests. Evidence of breeding is 

 however entirely lacking, although specimens shot on Lake Koshkonong 

 June 16, 1897, contained ova the size of medium hazelnuts and were in full 

 breeding plumage." (Birds of Wisconsin 1903, 47). E. W. Nelson also 

 found it in northeastern Illinois where he says that it is "a very abundant 

 migrant and many remain through the summer. From repeated dissec- 

 tions I am confident these are barren birds and, as Mr. Maynard suggests, 

 probably young of the preceding year." (Bull. Essex Inst. VIII, 1876, 

 126-127). 



It nests commonly in Labrador and the Hudson Bay region, laying 

 three or four dull grayish-buff eggs, spotted with dark brown and purplish 

 gray, and averaging 1.21 by .85 inches (Ridgway). 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Upper parts mottled black and gray, the central upper tail-coverts alone being clear 

 black or brownish black; marginal upper tail-coverts white; lower parts pure wliite except 

 for a pectoral band of ashy gray, more or less streaked with dusky or black, the streaks 

 most distinct and numerous in summer birds, indistinct or wanting in winter and in young 

 of the year; the latter also show some rusty, buffy or white edgings on the feathers of the 

 back. The bill is about the same length as that of the Least Sandpiper, but much broader 

 in proportion. Length 5.25 to 6.75 inches; wing 3.65 to 4; culmen .68 to .92. 



