SCOLOPACID.E: TATTLERS. 



833 



chietiy beyond U. S., where it reappears late in the summer or early in the fiill ; winters in the 

 Gulf States, but also pushes its migration through Central and most of South America, and 

 has occurred casually in Europe. Eggs 3-4, pointedly pyriform, 1.58-1.78 X about I.IG; 

 ground clay-color, buffy or creamy, not olivaceous, the markings showing boldly on the pale 

 ground, but in great diversity, some eggs being heavily splashed with blotches confluent about 

 the great end, others having small clean-edged spots all over tlie surface ; markings rich 

 umber, chocolate, or blackish, with neutral-tint shell-spots. 



HELODRO'3IAS. (Gr. tXos, helos, a marsh, and 8po(ids, dramas, running, i. e. a runner.) 

 Green Tattlers. Bill uioderately longer tlian head, perfectly straight, very slender, grooved 

 a little beyond its middle. Legs not very k)ng for this group ; tarsus little exceeding middle 

 toe and claw; bill and logs b(jtli dark -colored. Only the most rudimentary web between inner 

 and middle toe ; a moderate one between outer and middle. Upper parts dark-colored ; tail 

 rounded, fully barred with white. Small, Rhyacophilus of all previous editions of the Key, as 

 of most American authors since Baird, 1858 ; but this has as its type the short-billed Wood 

 Sandpiper of Europe, R. glareola. Name therefore changed to Helodramas Kaup. Nat. Syst. 

 1829, p. 144, type Tringa oeroplms (sic) Linn., which is strictly congeneric with our Solitary 

 Sandpiper. Helodromas was reduced to a subgenus of Totanus in the A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, 

 but appears to be sufliciently distinct, as I showed in Auk, Apr. 1897, ]t. 211, and as admitted 

 by A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 10.5. Besides some differences in external form, 

 it has the peculiarity, among its immediate all, of a single-notched sternum (compare figs, on 

 pp. 344 and 366 of Seebohm's work) ; and the European species has long been known to 

 nest in trees, contrary to the rule; in the whole order Limicolcc; "the hen laying her eggs in 

 the deserted nests of other birds — Jays, Tlirushes, or Pigeons — but nearly always at some 

 height (from 3 to 30 feet) from the ground." (P. Z. S. 1863, pp. 529-533; Newton, Diet. 

 1896, p. 812.) 



Analysis of Species. 



Length 9.00-10.00 ; upper tail-coverts white ; legs grayish-blue ochropus 



Length 8.00-9.00 ; upper tail-coverts like back ; legs greenisli, drying blackish solilarius 



H. och'ropus. (Gr. wxpos, ochros, pale, sallow, wan; ■novs, pons, foot. Fig. 582.) Ei'RO- 

 PEAN Green Sandpiper. Upper parts Idackish-brown, with faint olivaceous metallic gloss, 

 streaked on head and neck, s])eckled on bacdi 

 and wings, with white; upper tail-coverts 

 white. Tail white at base; lateral pair of 

 rectrices white, others marked witli white and 

 blackish in bars. Below, white, juguhim and 

 sides marked with dusky. Bill blackish ; iris 

 brown; feet "grayish-blue, greenish on the 

 joints.'' Length 9.00-10.00; wing about 

 5.50; tail2..50; bill 1.30-1.50; tarsus 1.30. 

 Nova Scotia and Hudson's Bay ; a straggler 

 from Europe (see Bull. Nutt. Club, iii, 1878, 

 p. 49). Rhi/acophilits ochropus of 2d-4th eds. 

 of the Key; Totanus (Helodromas) ochropus, 

 A. 0. U. No. [257]. Helodromas ochropus 

 CouES, Auk, Apr. 1897. p. 210: A. O. U. 

 Suppl. Li.st, Auk, Jan. 1899. p. lOti. 

 H. solita'riiis. (Lat. solitaritis, siditary; 

 solus, alone. Fig. 583.) AMERICAN Green 

 Sanopiper. Solitary Sandpiper. Solitaky TArri,i:K. .Adult ^? 9: .Mmivc. dark lus- 

 trous olive-brown, strrakcd on licad ami neck, tlscwlicri' timly spi/cklcd, witli wliitc ; no cou- 



Fio. S.'l'i.— Sternum of Green Sandpiper. 

 bohni'8 Chnradriidnp. ') 



(From See- 



