SCOLOPA CIDAL : SA NDPIPERS. 



811 



edge, and whitish tip; rump and upper tail-coverts, except lateral ones, blackish. Tail- 

 feathers ashy-gray, the central darker; primaries dusky, shaft of 1st white. A dusky line 

 from bill to eye, and a white superciliary line. Below, pure white, usually rufescent on breast, 

 and with more or less dusky 

 speckling on jugulum and 

 breast. In winter : -Upper 

 parts mostly plain ashy- 

 gray ; specks beneath faint 

 or obsolete. Young in July' 

 and August have scarcely 

 any traces of spots beneath, 

 being there almost entirely 

 white, with a light buff 

 wash across breast ; there 

 is also more white edging of 

 feathers of upper parts; but 

 in any plumage and under 

 any variation, the species is 



Fio. 5G6. — Peep. (From Seebohm's Charadriidae.) 



known by its small size and semipalmate feet. North America ; an abundant and well-known 

 little bird, thronging our beaches during migrations, which extend S. from the Gulf States to 

 the West Indies and South America. It is only known to breed in high latitudes, from Labra- 

 dor to Alaska, tliough it commonly appears in the U. S. in August, and may sometimes be 

 seen in other summer months. The size, general ajtjiearance, and changes of plumage are 

 much the same as those of Actodromas minutilla, and the habits of these two birds are very 

 similar. Eggs 3-4, 1.22 X 0.84, of usual shape; ground from clay-color (usual) to grayish 

 or greenish-drab or decidedly olivaceous, usually boldly spotted and splashed with umber 

 or chocolate brown, massed at larger end; sometimes more uniformly spotted in smaller 

 pattern. 



E. p. occidenta'lis ? (Lat. occidentalis, western.) Western Semipalmated Sandpipeu. 

 Ascribed to western North America, but also said to be "frequent" or "plentiful" on the 

 Atlantic coast ! The extreme variation in length of bill in the genus Ereunetes is from O-.'iO 

 to 1.25. In oceifZentoZiis as alleged the bill ranges ^ 0.85-0.95, average 0.88, 9 1-00-1.15, 

 average 1.05; the average of the $ being tiius over the extreme of the same sex of pusillus 



proper, and the minimum of the ^ occidentalis ('([ual- 

 ling the average of 9 imsillus. We also observe in 

 occidentalis a tendency to richer rusty or diestuut 

 and black coloration on the back, and heavier black 

 streaks on the breast, .sometimes forming arrow- 

 heads which reach along the sides of the belly. A'. 

 p. occidentdlia? " nn allei:ed variety, proiiaMy un- 

 '^AA tenable " of former eds. of the Key. A full species 



in A. 0. U. Li.'-ts, E. occidentalis, No. 247. 

 EURYNORIIYN'CIirS. (Gr. fipiKo). eitruno, I 



Fio. .'-.(iT. — Bpoon-billed Sandpiper. (From See- dihitc ; /jiryxor, /iri/^/c/jO.v, beak. Fig. 5<;7.) SpooN- 

 bolim'g CharadriidiE.) ,, i.-n i i i i 



iiii>i,Et> Sandpiper. Hill about as long iis liead, 

 straight, spatulate at end, the "spoon" being about as wide as long, lozongo-shajKHl, with 

 distal angle well marked, lateral angles rounded off. proximal <ino of ctnirse running into post 

 of bill ; both mandibles .share tins extraordinary dilation to about eipial extent. The expan- 

 sion is remarkably vascular, doubtless changes somewhat in dryiny, and nuiy not bo tjuite alike 

 in different specimens. Excepting this prodigy of a bill, the characters are those of ordin.iry 



