458 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



and streams in preference to those of the seacoast, where, 

 running about with great activity, it busies itself in search- 

 ing for the larvae of various aquatic insects, of which its 

 food principally consists. Like the succeeding species, it 

 has the habit of nodding its head, and tipping up its body 

 and tail, which has given it the name of "Wagtail," or 

 "Teetler." Nuttall says that it is seen in Massachusetts 

 only at the commencement of cold weather. I have fre- 

 quently met with it, both on our seashores and in the 

 meadows around our fresh-water ponds, through the whole 

 summer. Several pairs reside through the season on the 

 borders of Punkapoag Pond, in Canton, Mass.; and they 

 undoubtedly breed there, although I have been unable to 

 find their nest. This species remains with us until late in 

 September. When flushed, it rises with a short, sharp 

 whistle, different from that of the Spotted Sandpiper, which 

 it resembles in almost every other respect. 



TRINGOIDES, Bonapaktk. 



Tringmdes, Bonaparte, Saggio di una dist., etc. (1831). (Type Tringa hypo- 

 leucus, L., Gray.) 



Actiiis, BoiE, Lsis (1822), 560. Not of Illiger, Prodromus (1811). 



Upper mandible grooved to the terminal fourth; the bill tapering and rather 

 acute; cleft of mouth only moderate; the culmen about five-sixths the commissure; 

 feathers extending rather further on side of lower jaw than upper, the former reach- 

 ing as far as the beginning of the nostrils; those of the chin to about their middle; 

 bill shorter than the head, straight, equal to the tarsus, which is of the length of 

 middle toe and claw; bare part of tibia half the tarsus; outer toe webbed to first 

 joint; inner cleft about to the base; tail much rounded; more than half the wing. 



TRINGOIDES MACULAEIUS. — Gray. 

 The Spotted Sandpiper. 



Tringa macularia, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 249. Wils. Am. Om., VIL 

 (1813) 60. 



Totanus macularius, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 162. Aud. Om. Biog., IV. 

 (1838) 81. lb., Birds Am., V. (1842) 303. 



Tringoides macularius, Gray, genera. 



Description. 

 Small; bill ralher longer than the head, straight, slender; long grooves in both 

 mandibles; wing rather long, pointed; tail medium, rounded; legs rather long; 



