674 'J'TTE WANDERING TATTI.l-.R. 



No. 273. 



WANDERING TATTLER. 



A. O. U. No. 25(j. Heteractitis incaniis (("iinel.). 



Description. — Adult in siiiiiincr: Abovu iinifovm dark plumbeous, or slaty 

 gray; a white superciliary: shaft of first ]M-imary chiefly white: uiulerparts basally 

 white, heavily shaded i<v barred across upper breast and on sides with color of 

 back; axillars and wing-linings, likewise, ])lumbeous; fore-neck heavily speckled 

 and remaining underparts barred with ])lumbeous dusky. Adults in zvintcr: 

 Similar but more extensively white below; leaden-gray admixture everywhere 

 blended, lieaviest on cheeks and sides of breast. Immature: Like adult in winter, 

 but scapulars, tertials, and upjier tail-coverts indistinctly spotted with white, and 

 sides faintly mottled with white. Length about I i.oo ( 279.4 1 : wing ().j^ { 171.5 ) ; 

 tail 3.00 (76.2) ; bill 1.55 (39.4) ; tarsus 1.30 133). 



Recognition Marks. — Robin size: Killdcer size; leaden gray coloration dis- 

 tinctive: /("v.' tr-u' ncites ; frequents rocky shores. 



Nest aiifl E(jijs unknown. 



General Range. — Pacific coast of America, from Norton Si)und, Alaska, to 

 the dalapagus, and west to Kamchatka and Hawaiian Islands ; also the more 

 eastern island groups of Polynesia. 



Range in Washington. — Regular migrant and jiossibh' summer resident on 

 the West C(la^t (Cape Elizabeth, July 14, 1906). 



Authorities. — Hi'tcrdscchis hrci'lpi's 1 X'ieill. 1 I'.aird. Baird, Re]5. Pac. R. R. 

 Surv. IX. iSsS, p. 735. Cl\:S. 



Specimens. — Prov. C. D. 



To christen a bird "wandering" is to make all bird-men guiltathers in in- 

 terest : for wliat alxnit an\' bird mure capti^■ates the imagination than its dispo- 

 sition, and ability, to wander? This Tattler should be the palnm saint and 

 emblem of all who love the wild, and especialh- of those wIid, having once been 

 upon the bosom of the broad Pacific, feel e\erniore the ebb and flow of salt 

 water in their \eins. Attn, Shanishu, Baranoff, La}'san, Marcus Island, 

 Odgo\iganiut — these are all the same to H. incaiiiis. ?Iis grip is always 

 ])acked and his ticket always purchased for wliate\er clime, rock, or strand he 

 takes a fancy to. .\'or need he travel all alone. "\\'hat say, dear, shall it he the 

 Shuniagins this summer? or a little cabin on the Tschuktschi ?" There is a ])ro- 

 posal ('( la iiii'dc' fur \'ou, ancl the heart grows faint with desire \" follow. 



The Wandering Tattler is known to summer in .\laska. and is supposed to 

 breed in the vicinil\- of interior lakes and streams, but its nest has not \'et been 

 taken. iJuring migrations the bird touches onl_\- the seacoast, visiting us in 

 Ma\' and returning sometimes as earlv as Julw It haunts the barnacle-covered 

 rocks and tide-swept reefs, and itself appears lint a detacheil fragment of their 



