NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 177 



Ekeunetes pcsillus, (L.) Cassin. — Semlpalmated Sandpiper. 



Tringa cinclus, Dominicensis minor, Brisson, Ornith. 1760, v. tab. 37, fig. 3, 



[baud diibie.] 

 Tringa pusilla, Linnffius, Syst. Nat. 1766, i. 252, [in prsecedentem instituta.] 

 [Nee Meyer. ; nee Bechst. ; nee Wils.] Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1788, i. 681. 

 Latham. Ind. Orn. 1790, ii. 737. 

 f Tringa puiilla, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. 1819, xxxiv. 452. 



Ereunetcs petrijicatus, lUiger, Prod. 1811, 262. Cassin, Gen. Rep. 1858, 724. 

 Tringa semipalmata, Wilson, Am. Orn. 1813, vii. 131, tab. Ixiii. fig. 3 ; id. 

 Ord. Ed. 1829, iii. 132 ; id. Brewer. Ed. 1840, 542, fig. 225 ; ib. Syn. 725, 

 Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. 1819, xxxiv. 462. Swainson, F. B. A. 1831, ii. 381. 

 Audubon, Orn. Biog. v. 1839, 111, tab. 408 ; id. Syn. 1839, 236 ; id. 

 Birds. Amer. 1842, v. 277, tab. 336. Giraud, Birds L. 1. 1844, 239. New- 

 berry, P. R. R. Surv. 1857. vi. 100. 

 Tringa (Remipalama) semipalmata, Bonaparte, Obs. Wils. 1825, num. 212; id. 



Spece. Comp. 1827, 62. 

 Hemipalama semipalmata, Lambeye, Av. Cubse, 1850, 96. 

 Tringa (Heteropoda) semipalmata, Nuttall, Man. 1834, ii. 136. 

 Heteropoda semipalmata, Bonaparte, Comp. List, 1838, 49. Dekay, N. Y. 



Fauna, 1844, 236, tab. 86, fig. 195. Gray, Genera, 1849, iii. 580. 

 Ereunetcs semipalmatus, Cabanis, Scliom. Reise. iii. 758, fide Gen. Rep. Bona- 

 parte, Comptes Rend, xliii. 1856, fide Gen. Rep. Cabanis, Journ. fur 

 Orn. 1856, 419, fide Gen. Rep. 

 ? Heteropoda mauri, Bonaparte, Comp. List, 1838, 49, fide Gen. Rep. 

 ? Ereuneees jnanri, Gundlach, Cab. Journ. 1856, 419, fide Gen. Rep. 

 ? Hemipalama minor. Lambeye, Av. Cubse, 1850, 97. 

 Tringa brevirostris, Spix, Av. Bras. 1825, ii. 76, fide Gen. Rep. 

 ? Pelidna Brissoni, Lesson, Man. d'Orn. 1828, ii. 277, [T. pitsillam, Linn, citat.] 

 Ereunetes pnsillus, Cassin, Proc. Acad. N. S. 1860, xiii. 195. 



Sp. char. Bill stout, straight, variable in length, usually about equal to 

 the head, the tip considerably expanded and punctulate. Feathers extending 

 on the base of the bill to a nearly equal distance on both mandibles, their 

 outline straight and vertical ; those between the rami reaching but little fur- 

 ther. First primary usually longer than the second, the rest equally gradu- 

 ated. Upper tail coverts very long ; tail moderate, doubly emarginate, cen- 

 tral feathers pointed and projecting. Adult. — Upper parts variegated with 

 ashy, pure black, bright chestnut and white, each feather having a terminal 

 black field, and being margined with reddish and tipped with white or ashy. 

 Tertials dusky brown, edged with ashy or light chestnut ; wing coverts and 

 secondaries dusky ash edged with ashy white. Primaries deep dusky ; shaft 

 of the first white, the central portions of the others the same, their bases brown 

 and tips black. Rump and upper tail coverts brownish black, the outer pair 

 of the latter white barred with dusky. Central tail feathers dusky brown, 

 the others light greyish ash scarcely edged with white. Beneath white ; the 

 throat and breast slightly rufescent, and with oval or cordate spots of brown- 

 ish black, most numerous across the breast, and extending sparsely along the 

 sides as shaft lines. Middle of belly and under tail coverts white, mostly 

 immaculate. Bill and feet greenish black. 



Length 6 "5, wing 3*75, tail 2*1 ; bill (average) 1 inch ; tarsus '85, toe '8, 

 tibia, bare, -50. 



Habitat. — Entire temperate North America. Bahaia Islands. 



The present bird, the single admitted* American representative of a genus 



• I am by no means satisfied that but a single species of Ereunetes exists in North 

 America. The differences in size, in length and proportions of the tarsus even, and es- 

 pecially in the bill, cause it to seem almost impossible that all the specimens before me 

 are specifically the same. Thus, the difference in the length of the tarsus, between the 



1861.] 13 



