818 



SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLjE. 



Analysis of Species. 



Breeding dress: Crown streaked with yellowish gray, or grayish-white; scapulars and interscapulars irregularly 

 spotted and indented with dull buff, or whitish, and tipped with white ; fore-ueck distinctly streaked with dusky ; 

 breast dull gray, everywhere spotted with darker. Winter dress : Back and scapulars sootj'-black strongly 

 glossed with purplish ; the feathers bordered terminally with dark plumbeous-gray ; fore-neck uniform mouse- 

 gray, or brownisli-plumbeous. WingS.OG; culmenl.20; tarsus 0.99 ; middle toe without claw 0.90 . inariiima 



Breeding dress : Crown streaked with deep rusty ; scapulars and interscapulars broadly bordered with bright fen u- 

 ginouB ; fore-neck irregularly clouded with dull pale buff or soiled white and sooty-plumbeous, the breast more 

 coarsely clouded, witli more or less of a black patch on each side. Winter dress: Like that of •snaritima, but 

 the plumbeous borders of dorsal feathers broader and lighter, or more bluish. Jugulum streaked or otherwise 

 varied with white. Wing4.SG; culmenl.13; tarsus 0.95; middle toe without claw 0.8G coiiesi 



Breeding dress: Crown broadly streaked with ochraceous-buff ; scapulars and interscapulars broadly bordered with 

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

 anteriorly and clouded posteriorly with dusky, latter forming more or less of a patch on each side. Winter dress : 

 Similar to the corresponding 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 5.10: cuhnenl.33; 

 tarsus 0.98; middle toe without claw 0.90 ptilocnemis 



A, niari'tima. (Lat. mnritima, maritime. Fig. 571.) Purple Sandpiper. Eock 

 Sandpiper. Rock-snipe. Eock-bird. Winter Rock-bird. Winter-snipe. Bill 

 little longer than head, much longer than tarsus, straight or nearly so ; tibial feathers long, 

 reaching suffrage, though the legs are really bare a little way above; tarsus shorter than 

 middle toe and claw. Length about 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 little more. Breeding dress: 

 Upper parts black, conspicuously varied on 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 ; rusty-red also 

 suffusing sides of head, separated from 

 the black and reddish crown by a pale or 

 whitish superciliary stripe. A lighter 

 tawny shade invades jugulum and breast; 

 otiierwise, under parts white, streaked on 

 jugulum and breast with blackish, else- 

 where nebulated with dusky- gray, but no 

 definite blackish area formed. Rump and 

 upper tail-coverts brownish-black, un- 

 marked. Wings plain fuscous ; lesser 

 coverts narrowly, greater broadly, tipped 

 with white, secondaries mostly VA-hite in 

 increasing amounts from without inward, and shaft of 1st primary white. Inner tail-feathers 

 plain dusky, outer ashy-gray. Adult in winter : Entire upper parts a lustrous, very dark, 

 bluish- or blackish-ash, with purple and violet reflections, each feather with a lighter border. 

 Greater and lesser wing-coverts, inner secondaries and scapulars edged and tipped with white ; 

 secondaries mostly white ; primaries deep dusky, the shafts dull white except at tip, where 

 black. Upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers brownish-black witli purplisli reflections, 

 the outer pairs of the former white, barred with dusky. Lateral tail-feathers light ashy. Jugu- 

 lum and breast bluish-ash, each feather of the latter edged with white, and the ash extending 

 along sides beneath wings. Eest of under parts white, immaculate. Legs, feet, and bill at 

 base light flesh-color ; rest of bill greenish-black. Most immature birds of first fall and winter 

 resemble this, but are duller, without gloss. Young : Upper parts much the color of adult, 

 but each feather broadly edged and tipped with light buff or reddish yellow. Light edging of 



■Purple Sandpiper. (Prom Seebolnu'.i Cliai'adriidse.) 



