588 AMERICAN STINT. 



and Brazil. In autumn large flocks take an easterly direction as 

 far as the Bermudas, while on the west side the species is extremely 

 common in Southern California. 



A nest found in Labrador by Audubon is described as a hollow 

 lined with a few blades of dry grass, the locality chosen being 

 under the lee of a small rock, exposed to all the heat the sun can 

 give in that country. The eggs, 4 in number, are of a rich cream- 

 yellow tint, blotched and dotted with very dark umber, especially at 

 the larger end : specimens in Mr. Dresser's collection measure i in. 

 by '8 in. Of twenty nests found on the Barren grounds by Mr. 

 MacFarlane, all but six were taken between June 21st and 30th. 

 Worms, small crustaceans and marine insects are the chief food of 

 this species. The note is a shrill twitter, resembling the syllables 

 peep-peet. 



The adult in breeding-plumage has the feathers on the head and 

 back blackish, slightly edged with rufous ; hind-neck ashy, varied 

 with rufous ; wing-coverts ash-grey, exteriorly margined with buff, 

 the greater coverts with white edges which form an indistinct alar 

 bar ; quills ash-brown, blacker towards their tips, the shafts whitish- 

 brown, with the exception of the outermost which is chiefly white 

 and only dusky towards the extremity ; lower back and rump deep 

 black ; tail-feathers pale ash-grey, the middle pair elongated and 

 blackish like the rump ; lores, eyebrows, and sides of the face 

 whitish ; throat white ; chest ashy, mottled with dark brown in the 

 centres of some of the feathers ; rest of the under surface white ; 

 under wing-coverts whitish, some of the lower ones mottled with 

 brown ; bill nearly black ; legs dusky olive-brown ; iris dark hazel. 

 Externally there is no material difference between the sexes. Total 

 length 5-25 in., wing 3 "5 in. In autumn some of the feathers of 

 the back and scapulars have pale grey edges. The winter-plumage 

 is ash-grey above, some of the dorsal feathers being dark purplish- 

 brown in the centre and margined with white ; the lower part of 

 back and the rump are blackish ; the upper wing-coverts like the 

 back, the greater coverts clearer brown, and indistinctly tipped with 

 white ; rest of the plumage as in summer. 



The Semipalmated Sandpiper, T. piisilla, or Ereunetes pusillus, 

 another very common and widely-distributed species in America, 

 may always be distinguished from the above by having the anterior 

 toes webbed at the base. It has not yet been obtained in Europe, 

 but visits the north-east of Siberia. 



