814 



S YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — L IMI C OLM. 



with claw, about 0.75 ; bill exceptionally np to 0.90. Bill black ; legs dusky-greenish. Upper 

 parts in summer with feathei's blackish centrally, edged with bright bay and tipped with ashy 

 or white; in winter, in general simply ashy. Quills blackish, secondaries and greater coverts 

 tipped with white. Tail-feathers gray with whitish edges, central ones blackish, usually 



with reddish edges. Eump 

 _---s:==^-^ ===-.=^^-_ blackish. Crown not con- 



spicuously different from 

 hind neck ; an indistinct 

 whitish line over eye, and 

 dusky one from eye to bill. 

 Chestnut edgings of scapu- 

 lars usually scalloped. Be- 

 low, white; jugulum and 

 sides of body for some dis- 

 tance with ashy or brownish 

 suflFusiou, thickly spotted 

 and streaked with dusky. 

 Young with breast faintly 

 streaked as in winter adults. 

 This species and £'. pusillus 

 are usually confounded under 

 the common name of " sand- 



FiG. 570. — Little Stint. (From Seebohm's Charadriidse.) 



peeps," or "peeps," and look much alike; but a glance at the toes is sufficient to distinguish 

 them. North, Central, and S. Am. and West Indies; very abundant during migrations; acci- 

 dental in Europe. Breeds from Gulf of St. Lawrence and Assiniboia to high latitudes, returning 

 to U. S. in July and August; wintering S. from Gulf States and California. Eggs 3-4, 1.15 

 X 0.80, of usual shades of pale brownish or grayish buff, marked in variable pattern with 

 dark, rich, reddish-brown surface-spots and dots, and others of neutral tint in the shell. 

 A. damascen'sis. (Gr. Aa/Aao-K/ii/dy, Damaskenos, Lat. Damascenus, of Damascus, capital of 

 Syria, in Hebrew Dameseq, in Arabic Dameshq, whence it is evident that s should appear in 

 the name; compare damask, damaskeen, and other words of the same origin.) Damascene 

 Sandpiper. Long-toed Stint. Middendorff's Stint. Resembling the last somewhat 

 in coloration, and of about the same size. Shaft of only fii-st primary white ; lateral tail-feathers 

 gray ; feet brown. Middle toe and claw longer than tarsus or culmen ; tips of outstretched toes 

 reaching beyond end of tail ; points of folded wings not reaching to end of tail ; four outer pairs of 

 rectrices of equal lengths. Length 5.75; wing 3.50; bill 0.75; tarsus 0.85-0.90 ; middle toe and 

 claw 0.90-0.95. An Asiatic stint, which was taken on Otter Island in Behring's Sea, June 8, 

 1885. Totanus damacensis, Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, 1821, p. 129; Tringa dama- 

 censis Swinhoe, Ibis, Oct. 1863, p. 413; P. Z. S. J 863, p. 316; Ridgw. Auk, April, 1886, 

 p. 275; Man. 1887, p. 158 ; Actodromas damacensis Stej. Expl. Kamtschatka, 1885, p. 116; 

 Tringa damascensis, Coues, Key, 3d ed. 1887, p. 886; 4th ed. 1890, p. 905; Tringa (Acto- 

 dromas) damacensis, A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, p. 89, No. [242.1.]; Tringa subminuta 

 Middendorff, Rcise, ii, 1853, p. 222, and of most authors. 



A. bair'di. (To S. F. Baird.) Baird's Sandpiper. Form and proportions typical of the 

 genus. Bill small, slender, rather shorter than the head, equal to the tarsus, the tip scarcely 

 expanded, its point very acute. Grooves in both mandibles very long and deep, that of the 

 lower very narrow. Feathers extending on side of lower mandible much farther than those 

 on upper, about half as far as those between rami. Wings long ; 1st and 2d primaries about 

 equal, but varying, 3d much shorter; inner secondaries long, slender, flowing. Tail rather 

 long, but slightly doubly-emarginate, central feathers rounded, projecting but little. Toes 



