FAMILY RECURVIROSTRIDAE 427 



with black and buff ; rump and upper tail coverts black, tipped with 

 cinnamon-buff; middle rectrices dusky, tipped with buff, the outer 

 pairs grayish brown, black toward the end, tipped and edged with 

 deep buff, that becomes narrowly white distally ; underneath mainly 

 light pinkish cinnamon, edged with white to buffy white; throat, ab- 

 domen, and under tail coverts pale buff ; axillars and main under wing 

 coverts white ; under primary coverts grayish buff, tipped with white, 

 with irregular lines and subterminal spots of black ; inner web of 

 remiges with irregular spots of black toward the tips. 



Iris brown; base of maxilla deep olive gray; rest of bill black; 

 tarsus brownish orange (yellow ocher to olive-ocher) , shading to 

 grayish buff on the upper part (the crus) ; toes olive-buff to honey 

 yellow ; nails black. 



Measurements (from Ridgway, I.e., p. 227). — Males, wing 129-136 

 (132.1), tail 58-63 (60.6), exposed culmen 19.5-20.5 (19.9), tarsus 

 30-37 (32.1) mm. 



Females, wing 122-132 (127.2), tail 54-62 (57), exposed culmen 

 17.5-19.5 (18.4), tarsus 29-31 (29.5) mm. 



Passage migrant from the north. Rare. 



The only specimen record is that of Jewel (Auk, 1913, p. 426), who 

 collected one in a dry pasture near Gatun on October 18, 1911. He 

 saw another at the same place on March 29, 1912. Dr. Eisenmann 

 has recorded this species at Coco Solo, and at Balboa, Canal Zone, 

 on September 28, 1958. 



The buff-breasted sandpiper is another that nests in the tundras of 

 the far north, from northern Alaska to northern MacKenzie, and 

 migrates south to Argentina for the period of northern winter. 



On their wintering grounds in the far south I have found single 

 birds with other sandpipers, but remaining somewhat apart, on muddy 

 shores. ]\Iore often they were in small flocks that ranged over alka- 

 line barrens amid scattered herbaceous growth. They are active and 

 quick in their movements, and are constantly in motion. Their dis- 

 tinct buffy color distinguishes them from the other small sandpipers, 

 as does the slender neck, small head, and short bill, a profile that sug- 

 gests that of a pigeon. 



Family RECURVIROSTRIDAE : Avocets and Stilts ; 

 Avocetas y Ciguehuelas 



The few living species of this family of shorebirds are widespread 

 through temperate and tropical regions of the world. All are of 

 moderate size, and all stand on tall legs, those of the stilt, the only 



