838 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LIMICOLA:. 



goinle and confiding creature it is when at home on the western prairies. Nest anywhere on 

 prairie, in June; eggs normally 4, averaging 1.75 X 1-28; clay-color or pale creamy-brown 

 without olive shade ; spotted all over, but most thickly at large end, with small, sharp, rounded 

 surface-marks of umber-brown, among which are purplish-gray shell-spots ; spots rarely if 

 ever larger than a split pea, and seldom confluent. 



TRYNGl'TKS. (Gr. rpvyya^, trurjgas, a sandpiper, with suffix -t/js, -tes.) Marble-WING 

 Sanui'IPERS. Bill shorter than head, very slender, tapering, and acute, grooved nearly its 

 whole length, thus much as in Tringa; but gape of mouth extensive, and end of bill not dilated 

 and sensitive. Frontal feathers embracing base of upper mandible in nearly transverse outline, 

 and extending quite to nostrils; those on side of under mandible reaching farther still, those of 

 chin completely filling the interramal space,- such extension of feathers making bill appear 

 remarkably short. Wings of ordinary shape. Tail about h as long as wings, rounded, with 

 projecting central feathers. Tibiae denuded below for a space less than length of middle toe. 

 Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw. Toes cleft to base, or with only rudimentary basal 

 webbing. Primaries peculiarly marbled in color. Tail not barred. Related to Tringa in 

 many respects ; but the acute and hardened tip of the bill, and long gape, are totanine, and on 

 the whole the affinities of the single species seem to be with Sartramia, so far as our genera are 

 concerned, though there is an undoubted relationship with JEchmorhijnchus cancellatus and 

 Prosobonia leucoptera — those rare and perhaps extinct Sandpipers of the Sandwich and some 

 other Pacific Islands. 



T. rufes'cens. (Lat. rvfescens, rufescent, reddish. Fig. 587.) Buff-breasted Sand- 

 piper. Adult ^ 9, in breeding plumage: Above, brownish-black with a greenish gloss, 

 every feather broadly margined with tawny or yellowish-brown, the latter the prevailing tone. 

 Under parts buff or fawn-colored, without markings except a few small blackish spots on sides 

 of breast. Central tail-feathers greenish-brown, blackening at ends ; others paler, often rufes- 

 cent, with white or tawny tips and subterminal black bar; and usually, also, some black mar- 

 bling or streaking. Primaries and secondaries ashy-brown, blackening at end, the extreme tip 



white — most of the inner webs of primaries, and both 

 webs of secondaries, pearly white, speckled and marbled 

 with black. This curious tracery, best seen from below, 

 is diagncjstic ; though the precise pattern varies inter- 

 minably. The patch of under coverts at bases of prima- 

 ries has the same character. Axillars white ; lining of 

 wings white or rufescent. Iris brown. Bill brownish- 

 FiG 5S7. - Buff-breasted Sandpiper, nat. black; legs greenish or yellowish. Length 7.50-8.25; 



size (Ad nat del EC^ ^ cd cd */ c ' 



extent about 16.00; wing 5.00-5.25; tail 2.50; bill along 



culmen 0.67-0.75, along gape 1.00; tarsus 1.20; middle toe and claw under 1.00. Fall plu- 

 mage : Under parts less rufescent, frequently simply tawny-whitish ; broad ochrey or tawny 

 edgings of feathers of upper parts replaced by narrow whitish streakings, in a set of semicircles. 

 Wings and tail as in spring. North America at large, especially the interior, and a frequent 

 European straggler, but apparently nowhere abundant, unless in the migrations in the Gulf 

 States; only migratory in the U. S. ; S. in winter through South America; breeds in high lat- 

 itudes, quite to the Arctic coast. Eggs usually 4, pointedly pyriform, 1.40-1.50 X 1.02-1.10; 

 the ground clay, sometimes slightly olivaceous, often quite grayish ; markings extremely bold 

 and sharp, in heavy blotches and indeterminate spots all over the surface, but largest and most 

 numerous at greater end ; colors rich umber-brown, of varying shi'de. Nearest these blotched 

 samples are splashed ones, with markings massed at greater end, elsewhere splattered in small 

 pattern. Others are spotted with narrow markings radiating from large end, almost wreathing 

 about greatest diameter. All with the usual neutral-tint shell-markings ; most with scratchy 

 blackish marks over all. (T. suhmficollis of A. 0. U. Lists.) 



