582 Bonaparte's sandpiper. 



Indies, Central America, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, the Falkland 

 Islands, the Straits of Magellan, and, on the Pacific side, to Peru 

 and Chile. 



Authenticated eggs obtained bj' Mr. MacFarlane on the Barren 

 grounds near the Arctic coast, have a rufous-drab ground-colour, and 

 are boldly blotched with dark brown, especially at the larger end : 

 measurements i"35 by "95 in. The complete clutch consists of 4, 

 and the nest is a mere depression in the ground, lined with a few 

 decayed leaves. Dr. E. Coues says that he has frequently observed 

 this bird on rocky shores covered with sea-weed and moist with 

 the falling spray, and of all American Sandpipers it is the most 

 gentle and confiding. When startled, it emits a soft, low weet, dif- 

 ferent from the note of any other wader, flying off in very compact 

 flocks in a vacillating manner, alternately showing the upper and 

 under parts, and being easily recognized on the wing by the 

 conspicuously white upper tail-coverts. It usually associates with 

 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and, in common with other small 

 species, is known by the name of " Peep." Rodd remarked that 

 the call of the birds killed in Cornwall was shorter and sharper 

 than that of the Dunlin. The food consists of insects, small 

 crustaceans, marine animals &c. ; and with us, as in America, the 

 bird appears to be partial to rocks which are covered with sea-weed 

 and slope down to the water. 



The adult in summer has a white streak over the eye ; feathers 

 of the upper parts ash-brown with dark centres, the edges being 

 grey and rufous ; quills dusky-brown ; rump dark ash-brown ; 

 upper tail-coverts chiefly white, though streaked laterally with brown, 

 the central pair — which are not conspicuous — being dark ; tail- 

 feathers ash-brown, except the central pair, which are dark brown, 

 pointed, and elongated ; chin white ; cheeks, neck, upper breast 

 and flanks greyish-white, speckled and streaked with dusky- 

 brown ; axillaries, belly and under tail-coverts white ; bill very short, 

 straight, and nearly black ; legs and feet dark olive. The female is 

 a trifle the larger and more richly coloured. Length 7*25 in. 

 (bill -g), wing 475 in. In winter the mantle is brownish-grey, and 

 the streaks on the breast and flanks are less sharply defined. The 

 young are more mottled with white and rufous on the back, while 

 the throat and breast are suffused with buff. 



The trivial name is attributable to the fact that Schlegel named 

 the species after Bonaparte, in ignorance of Vieillot's earlier 

 description. 



