SCOLOPACID^ : SANDPIPERS. 629 



plimibeows-gray ; fore-neck uniform mouse-gray, or brownisli-plumbcous. Wing 5.06; oulmen 1.20; 

 tarsus 0.99; middle toe witliout claw 0.90 maritima C20 



Breeding dress : Crown strealced witli deep rusty ; scapulars and interscapulars broadly bordered with 

 bright ferruginous ; fore-neck irregularly clouded with dull pale buff or soiled white and sooty- 

 plumbeous, the breast more coarsely clouded, with more or less of a black patch on each side. 

 JTinter dress: Like that of maritima, but the plumbeous borders of dorsal feathers broader and 

 lighter, or more bluish. JCigulum streaked or otherwise varied with white. Wiiig4.86; culmenl.l3; 

 tarsus 0.95 ; middle toe without claw 0.86 coucsi 62» 



Breeding dress: Crown broadly streakeil with ochraceous-buff; scai)ulars and interscafiulars broadly 

 bordered with bright ochraceous-rufous ; fore-neck pure white, sparsely streaked witli brownish-gray ; 

 breast white, streaked anteriorly and clouded posteriorly with dusky, latter forming more or less of a 

 patch on each side. 11' inter dress: Similar to the correspoudiug stages of each of the foregoing, but 

 very much paler, the whole dorsal aspect being light cinereous, the scapulars and interscapulars with 

 small, nearly concealed, central spots, the wing-coverts very broadly edged with pure white ; fore-neck 

 with white largely predominating. "Wing 5.16; cubnen 1.33; tarsus 0.98; middle toe without claw 

 0.90 ptilocnemis 622 



620. A. mari'tima. (Lat. maritima, maritime.) Purple Sandpiper. Bill little longer than 

 head, much longer than tarsus, straight or nearly so; tibial feathers long, reacMug to the 

 joint, though the legs are really bare a httle way above ; tarsus shorter than middle toe and 

 daw. Length ahout 9.00 ; extent about 16.00 ; wing 5.00 ; tail 2.66, much rounded ; bill 1.20; 

 tarsus 0.90-1.00 ; middle toe 1.00 or a httle more. The breeding dress, little known : Upper 

 parts black, conspicuously varied on the head, neck, back, and scapulars, with chestnut or 

 cinnamon, and pale buff or whitish, the darker reddish colors edging or indenting the sides 

 of the feathers, the paler colors chiefly tipping their ends; the rusty-red also suflusing the 

 sides of the head, separated from the black and reddish crown by a pale or whitish superciliary 

 stripe. A hghter tawny shade invades the jugulum and breast ; otherwise, under parts 

 white, streaked on the breast with blackish, elsewhere nebulated with dusky-gray, but no 

 definite blackish area formed. Eump and upper tail-coverts brownish-black, unmarked. 

 Wings plain fuscous, the lesser coverts narrowly, the greater broadly, tipped with white, 

 the secondaries mostly white in increasing amounts from without inwards, and the shaft of 

 the first primary white. Tail-feathers plain dusky. Adult in winter : Entire upper parts a 

 lustrous very dark bluish- or blackish-ash, with purple and \'iolet reflections, and each feather 

 with a lighter border. Greater and lesser wing-coverts, tertials and scapulars edged and tipped 

 with white. Secondaries mostly white. Primaries deep dusky, the shafts duU white except at 

 tip, where they are black. Upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers browniish-black with 

 purplish reflections, the outer pahs of the former white-ban-ed with dusky. Lateral tail-feathers 

 light ashy. Jugulum and breast bluish-ash, each feather of the latter edged with white, and 

 the ash extending along the sides beneath the wings. Rest of under parts white, immaculate. 

 Legs, feet, and bill at base Hght flesh-color ; rest of bill greenish-black. Most immatm-e birds 

 of the first fall and wiuter resemble this, but are duller, without the gloss. Young : Upper 

 parts much the color of the adult, but with each feather broadly edged and tipped with hght 

 buff or reddish-yellow. Light edging of wing-coverts ashy instead of pure white. Under 

 parts everywhere thickly mottled with ashy and dusky, deepest on the breast and jugulum. 

 Chicks in down are very pretty: grayish-brown, mottled \v\\h black, the back, wings, and 

 rump spangled with white points ; head grayish-white, tinged witli fulvous, variously marked 

 with black ; lores with two parallel black .stripes ; below, grayish-white. A species of circum- 

 polar distribution, breeding and often wintering in Arctic regions ; in America S. to the Middle 

 States; chiefly maritime, but also occurring <ni the Great Lakes. Egg of usual pyriform shape, 

 about 1.40 X 1.00, clay color with olive shade, with large bold markings of rich umber-brown 

 of varying shade, with neutral tint sliell-markings ; markings over all the surface, but largest 

 and most massed at the greater end. 



621. A. coues'i. (To E. Coues.) Aleutian Sandpiper. Very near the last. The following 

 is the original description, in substance. Breeding dress : Above fuliginous-slate ; feathers of 



