484 TRINGA BAIRDII, BAIRD's SANDPIPER. 



tlicy iocrease and multiply till they become like armies as to numbers. 

 Besides being' gregarious among themselves, they are sociable with 

 other birds, and there is hardly a gathering of waders of any sort any 

 where that the Peep family is not represented in. Gadabouts, perhaps, 

 they are, but no scandal mongers ; ubiquitous, turning up everyw^here 

 Avhen least expected, but never looked ill upon ; bustling little busy 

 bodies, but minding their own business strictly. Besides environing a 

 continent on three sides at least (and perhaps on the Arctic shores as 

 well), not a river or lake, not a creek or pond, the banks of which are 

 not populated at one season or another ; the track of their tiny feet, 

 imprinted on the sand of the sea-shore and the soil of the inland water, 

 shows where they have gone. Their numbers swell in no small degree 

 the great tide of birds that ceaselessly ebbs and flows once a year in the 

 direction of the polar star; they taken away, a feature of the land 

 would be lost. Altogether, they become imposing, though singly in- 

 significant. If we do not know just what part is given out to them in 

 the grand play of Nature, at least we may be assured they have a part 

 that is faithfully and well performed. 



TRINGA BAIEDII, Coues. 



B.iird's Sandpiper. 



{?)Tringa melanotos, Vieill. (based on Clwrlito lomo negro of Azara.) 



(f ) Tringa pectoraUs, Cass., Gilliss' Exp. ii, 185.5, 195. 



Tr'niga schinzii, Woodh., Sitgr. Rep. 1853, 100 (excl. syn. ; nee Brelim). 



Trlnga honapartii, Cass., Baird's B. N. A. 1858, 722 {partbn; nee Schlegel). — Hayd., Rep, 

 1862, 174 (error).— Elliot, lutrod. B. N. A. {partim). 



Trinqa maculata, Schl., M. P.-B. Scolopaees, 1864, 39 {partim). 



Jcto'dromas hairdii, Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1861, 194; 1866, 97.— SCL., P. Z. S. 1862, 369 

 (Mexico).— Ball & Bann., Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 292 (Alaska).— Stev., U. S. 

 Geol. Surv. Ter. 1870, 466 (Wyoming).— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 182 

 (Colorado).— Bkewst., Am. Nat. vi, 1872, 306 (Boston, Mass.).— Snow, B. Kans. 

 1873, 10. 



Tringa hairdii, Scl., P. Z. S. 1867, 332 (Chili).— Sol. & Salv., ibid. 1868, 144 (Conchitas).— 

 Hakt., Ibis, 1870, 1.52 (Panama, New Granada, and Peru).— Newt., P. Z. S. 

 1871, 577 (egg).— Andek., B. Daraaralaud, 1872, 308 (Walwich Bay, South 

 Africa).— Mekk., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1872, 700 ( Wyoming).- Coues, Key, 1872, 

 255.— Scl. & Salv., P. Z. S. 1873, 455.— Ridgw., Ann. Lye. x, 1874, 384 (Illinois). 



Tringa {Heteropygia) bairdil, Gray, Hand-list, iii, 1871, 49, No. 10308. 



Eal). — North America, chiefly in the Interior. Rare on the Atlantic coast. Mexico, 

 Central and South America. Accidental in Africa. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 4869, Omaha City; 5442, YelloTvatone River; 5443, 

 Cedar Creek. 



La/erJ?j-ped(ih'ons.— 54327, 61154, Wyoming; 60791, 60793-5, North Platte and Little 

 Sandy ; 62361, Lower Geyser Basin, Wyoming. 



Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition. 



Erroneously given in Dr. Hayden's Report as " Tringa honapartii,'" upon Mr. Cassin's 

 identification, who, in 1858, gave these three specimens as bonapariii, together with 

 two others, Nos. 8800, 8769, of the Smithsonian Register, taken by Dr. Cooper, while 

 en route from Fort Kearney to Fort Laramie. Dr. Woodhonse's specimens, from Zuni, 

 New Mexico, as above cited, arc this species, though given as " T. schinzii" in his 

 report. 



It is not a little singular that this perfectly distinct species should ever have been 

 confounded with T. fuscicolliis, to which it bears only a superficial resemblance. It is 

 really much nearer both T. maculata and T. minutiUa, between which it stands exactly 

 intermediate, though readily distinguished from either. Of its characters I have 

 nothing to add to the perfectly accurate account given in my works above quoted, 

 and here partly reproduced iu substance. As Dr. Sclater has shown, since the species 

 has been ascertained to inhabit Central aud South as well as North America, the name 

 hairdii is quite probably anticipated by at least one other; but this point has not been 

 determined. 



