THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 677 



ui). a quivering speck appears, approaches, passes onward, anon scattering 

 broadcast the rolHng whistle without an added tremor of the wings." 



The bird is part Sandpiper, part Plover, to appearance, its short bill serv- 

 ing instantly to distinguish it from the Long-billed Curlew, which it resembles 

 otherwise in choice of range and in general economy. It is very rare, possibly 

 nothing more than accidental, west of the Rocky Mountains, but there are two 

 records of its occurrence in British Columbia. 



No. 275. 



BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 



A. O. U. Xo. 262. Tryngites subruficollis (X'ieill. ). 



Description. — Adult: Upperparts dull grayish buff or grayish brown varied 

 b_v blackish or olive-brown centers of feathers; underparts buff, dotted and 

 streaked on sides of breast with blackish; the inner webs of the primaries, both 

 webs of the secondaries, and the tips of the larger under wing-coverts speckled 

 with black: axillars white; bill dusky; feet and legs greenish yellow. Immature: 

 Like adult, but feathers of back, etc., rounded, distinctlv bordered with whitish, 

 the speckling of wing-quills and under coverts tiner than in adults. Length 

 7.25-8.75 ( 184.2-222.3) ; wing 5.23 ( 132.8) ; tail 2.33 ( 59.2) ; bill .yj ( 19.6; tarsus 

 1.20 (30.5). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size : general buffiness of coloration ; short, 

 straight, blackish bill ; black speckling on wing-quills and under coverts distinctive. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. Eggs: 3 or 4, buffy grayish white, 

 varying to pale olive, boldly spotted longitudinally (and somewhat spirally) with 

 dark Vandyke or madder Iirown and purplish grav (Ridgw.). .\v. size, 1.47 -x 

 1.06 (37.3x26.9). 



General Range. — North America, especially in the interior; breeds in the 

 Yukon district and in the interior of British America northward to the .Arctic 

 Coast; South America in winter as far as Uraguav and Peru. C)f frequent occur- 

 rence in Europe. 



Range in Washington. — "Common at Shoalwater bay during the migrating 

 season" (Cooper). No recent records. 



Authorities. — Tryngites rufescens (Vieill.) Cab., Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 

 Surv. IX. 1858, p. 740. C&S. 



Specimens. — Prov. 



A SLTSPICIOX' — a shot — a record — and a mystery. These be the short 

 and simple annals of several Sandpipers, not only for this State but others as 

 well. Suspicions are permissible if not too frequently directed against birds 

 we ought to know are C(jmmon ; the records are much quoted by scientific men ; 

 while the mysteries are being solved by the hardy explorers of the North — to 



