44 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Tringa maritima Brunn. 



PURPLE SANDPIPER. 



Popular synonyms. Winter Snipe (Maine); Rock Snipe. 



Tringa maritima Beunn. Orn. Bor. 1764, 54.— Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 382.— Nutt. Man. 

 ii, 1834, 115— Aud. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 558, pi. 284; Synop. 1839, 233; B. Am. v, 1842, 261, 

 pi. 330.— Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 717— Baikd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 628.— 

 Coues, Key, 1872. 255; Check List, 1877, No. 423; B. N. W. 1874, 488— A. O. U. Check 

 List, 1886, No. 235— Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 153. 

 Arquatella maritima Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, v, July, 1880, 162; Nom. N. Am. B. 

 1881, No. 530— Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 620.— B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. 

 i, 1884, 217. 



Hab. Northeastern portions of North America, breeding in the high north, and migrat- 

 ing southward in winter to the Middle States, the Great Lakes, and shores of the larger 

 streams in the Mississippi Valley. Bermudas? Also, the northern portion of the Paloe- 

 arctic Region. 



Sp. Char. Adult, breeding plumage: Above, dusky slate, the scapulars and inter- 

 scapulars nearly black, and faintly glossed, the edge of each feather notched or indented 

 with ochraceous or dull buff, the terminal portion bordered with dull white or pale buff; 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers glossy dusky-black, the feathers of the 

 rump sometimes faintly bordered with grayish; remaining rectrices uniform grayish, with 

 white shafts, the shade of gray becoming gradually lighter to the exterior feather. Lesser 

 and middle wing- coverts bordered terminally with grayish white or pale ash; greater cov- 

 erts tipped with pure white, forming a distinct bar across the wing; secondaries narrowly 

 tipped with white and faintly edged with light ashy, the three or four feathers adjoining the 

 tertials mostly white; primaries with white shafts, the inner quills edged, especially toward 

 the base, with white. Pileum dusky, streaked with pale grayish buff (these streaks some- 

 times nearly obsolete); a conspicuous superciliary stripe of grayish white, streaked with 

 dusky; a broad grayish dusky streaked stripe across the lores, from the bill to and beneath 

 the eye, and continued rather indistinctly across the auriculars ; cheeks, lower part of throat, 

 and foreneck grayish white, streaked with grayish dusky; chin, and sometimes upper part 

 of throat, unstreaked white; jugulum similarly but more broadly streaked; breast grayish 

 white or pale ashy, irregularly spotted with dusky, these spots occupying chiefly the cen- 

 tral portion of each feather; remaining lower part white, the sides irregularly streaked and 

 spotted with grayish; crissum narrowly streaked with dusky; axillars and lining of the 

 wing pure white, the latter bordered externally with grayish. "Bill brown, yellow at base; 

 tarsi and toes dusky yellow; iris brown." (Kumlien, MS.) [Bill and legs dusky in dried 

 skins.*] Winter dress: Above, uniform smoky plumbeous, the scapulars, interscapulars, 

 rump feathers, and upper tail-coverts, darker centrally, where glossed with purple; wings 

 and tail as in the summer plumage. Head and neck uniform smoky plumbeous, darker 

 immediately before the eye, and, to a less extent, on the crown; the chin and upper part of 

 throat, lower eyelid, and supraloral space, white; jugulum and breast light smoky plum- 

 beous, squamated with white; remaining lower parts white, the sides broadly streaked with 

 light brownish gray ; crissum with narrow mesial streaks of dusky. Young, first plumage: 

 Above, quite, similar to the breeding adult, but the dorsal feathers lacking the lateral ochra- 

 ceous indentations, and the light borders to the feathers rather more regular, and more 

 creamy in tint, the light borders to the wing-coverts also broader, and pale grayish buff 

 instead of white or pale ashy; nape and cheeks uniform smoky plumbeous; lower parts 

 much as in the summer adult. Downy young: Above, brown, lighter and more gray- 

 ish on the nape; the brown irregularly marbled with black; the wings, back, and rump 

 thickly bespangled with whitish downy flecks on the tips of the down-tufts. Head pale 

 fulvous, variously marked with black, the crown deep brown, variegated with black. 

 Beneath, entirely grayish white. 



Total length, about 9 inches ; wing, 4.85-5.40(5.06); culmen, 1.10-1.45 (1.20); tarsus, .90-1.00 

 (.99); middle toe, .83-95 (.90). [Extreme and average dimensions of 13 adults.] 



* Audubon says: "Bill deep orange, toward the end dusky; edges of eyelids gray; iris 

 orange ; feet light orange, claws dusky." 



