WHITE -RUMPED SANDPIPER. 1 29 



WHITE-RU^IPED SANDPIPER. 



BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER. 

 TrIXGA FUSCICOLLIS. 



Char. Upper parts brownish gray, striped with black and tinged with 

 rufous ; wings ashy brown ; rump brownish ash ; upper tail-coverts white ; 

 tail grayish brown, the two middle feathers darker ; under parts white, 

 the breast washed with gray. In winter the upper parts are entirely 

 brownish gray. Bill short and blackish brown, paler at the base ; legs 

 brownish olive. Length about 7/4 inches. 



Nest. On a low lying sea-shore or near the muddy margin of a lake or 

 stream close by the sea, — a slight depression, lined with dead leaves. 



Eggs. 4 ; olive or olive brown or grayish buff, marked with chestnut 

 and dark brown ; sometimes marked also with pale brown and purplish 

 gray; 1,35 X 095. 



• This species, so nearly related to the preceding, is also com- 

 mon to both continents, penetrating inland in America to the 

 western plains of the Mississippi, and inhabiting the shores of 

 the small lakes which skirt the plains of the Saskatchewan, 

 and probably the remoter wilds of the Arctic circle. Accord- 

 ing to Bonaparte these birds are rather common on the coast 

 of New Jersey m autumn, and Mr. Oakes met with several in 

 the vicinity of Ipswich, in Massachusetts. They are either seen 

 in flocks by themselves or accompanying other Sandpipers, 

 which they entirely resemble in their habits and food, fre- 

 quenting marshy shores and the borders of lakes and brackish 

 waters. They associate in the breeding-season, and are then 

 by no means shy ; but during autumn, accompanying different 

 birds, they become wild and restless. Their voice resembles 

 that of the Dunlin, but is more feeble ; and they nest near 

 their usual haunts, by lakes and marshes. 



This is the Schinz's Sandpiper of Xuttall and Bonaparte. It is 

 a common bird in eastern North America, migrating northward 

 along the Mississippi valley as well as by the Atlantic coast, and 

 breeding in the Arctic regions, — from Labrador to the Polar Sea. 



During the migrations numbers of these birds appear along the 

 New England shores m. company with several of their smaller 

 allies, from which they are readily distinguished by their conspic- 

 VOL. IT. — 9 



