54 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Ereunetes occidentalis Lawr. 



WESTERN SANDPIPER. 



Ereunetes occidentalis Lawr. Proc. Phila. Acad. 1864, 107.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886, 

 No. 247— Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 162. 

 Ereunetes pusillus var. occidentalis Coues, Check List, 1874, No, 417 a. 

 Ereunetes pusillus occidentalis RiDGW.Nom.N. Am. B. 1881, No. 541 a.— Coues, Check 



List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 713. 

 Ereunetes pusillus, b, occidentalis B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 205. 

 Ereunetes pusil 



dllus | 

 rificatus \ 



Ereunetes petri* - 



Hab. North America in general, except portion east of the Rocky Mountains north of 

 the United States boundary. Breeding along western coast of Alaska (Bering's Sea, Nor- 

 ton Sound, etc.), and thence southward for an undetermined distance; migrating chiefly 

 through the Western Province, but frequently straying to the Atlantic coast of the U. S. 

 (Massachusetts, Virginia, Georgia, etc.); Curaeoa, Venezuela, and some of the West Indies 

 in winter. 



Sp. Char. Adult, breeding plumage: Upper surface bright rusty cinnamon, the 

 feathers spotted centrally with black, the cinnamon sometimes nearly uniform along the 

 sides of the crown; a white superciliarly stripe streaked with dusky grayish, this bordered 

 below by a stripe of light rufous or rusty on the side of the head, from the bill across the 

 lores, and beneath the eyes across the auriculars ; remainder of the head white, streaked, ex- 

 cept on the throat (where also sometimes finely flecked) with grayish dusky. Lower parts 

 pure white, the jugulum and breast thickly marked with broad streaks of dusky, these 

 broadest and of triangular form on the sides of the breast; sides marked with sagittate 

 dusky spots. Adult, winter plumage: Not distinguishable from E. pusillus in the same 

 stage, except by greater average length of bill and tarsus. Young: Similar to young of 

 pusillus, but with rusty ochraceous prevailing on the dorsal region and pileum. Downy 

 young: Similar to the same stage of E. pusillus, but the rusty areas of the upper parts 

 more extended and more castaneous. 



Wing, 3.60-3.90 (3.74); culmen, .85-1.15 (.95); tarsus .85.-95 (.89); middle toe, .55-.65 (.60). 

 [Eighteen summer adults measured.] 



This western species is not uncommon during the migrations, 

 usually mixed in with flocks of the E. pusilhis, but sometimes 

 in small companies by itself. 



Genus CALIDRIS Cuvier. 



Oalidris Cuvier, Anat. Comp. i, 1799-1800, tabl. ii. Type, Tringa arenaria Linn. 



Char. General characters of Tringa, but hind toe entirely absent. Bill straight, 

 rather longer than the head, slightly expanded or spoon-shaped at end. Toes short, the 

 middle one scarcely two thirds the tarsus. 



