184: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



reflectious, and each feather with a lighter border. Greater and lesser wing 

 coverts, tertials and scapulars edged and tipped with white. Secondaries 

 mostly white. Primaries deep dusky, the shafts dull white except at tip, where 

 they are black. Upper tail coverts and central tail feathers brownish black 

 with purplish reflections, the outer pair of the former white barred with dusky. 

 Lateral tail feathers light ashy. Jugulum and breast bluish ash, each feather 

 of the latter edged with white, and the ash extending along the sides beneath 

 the wings. Rest of under parts white, immaculate. Legs, feet and bill at base 

 light flesh-color; rest of bill greenish black. Young in September. Upper parts 

 much the color of the adult, but with each feather broadly edged and tipped 

 with light buff or reddish yellow. Light edging of wing coverts ashy instead 

 of pure white. Under parts everywhere thickly mottled with ashy and dusky, 

 deepest on the breast and jugulum. 



Length 8 to 9, extent 15 to 16, wing about 5, tail 2-6. Bill above (average) 

 1-2 ; tarsus -9 ; middle toe 1-1 ; tibia bare -45. 



Habitat — Atlantic coast from Greenland to Florida. Europe. 

 Except in the very immature plumage given above, this Sandpiper varies but 

 little in color, the difference between adult and young being chiefly in the 

 depth and intensity of the tints. As the bird advances toward maturity, the 

 upper parts become darker and more lustrous, the edgings of the wing coverts 

 and scapulars more conspicuous and better defined. The mottling of the under 

 parts is gradually restricted till it forms the well defined, uniform dark ash of 

 the jugulum and breast, the sides being always sparsely streaked, and the rest 

 of the under parts white, immaculate. The youngest specimens, however, show 

 a very decided greenish or purplish lustre. While the length and proportions 

 of the tibia, tarsus and toes are remarkably constant, the size of the whole bird, 

 and more particularly that of the bill, varies greatly. The difference in the 

 length of the bill of five specimens now before me amounts to three-tenths of 

 an inch, and in that of the whole bird to considerably more than an inch. A 

 specimen from Greenland is the smallest, having the wing four-tenths of an 

 inch shorter than in one from New Hampshire. In this specimen the legs and 

 feet are dusky-green instead of flesh-colored, and the bill is scarcely lighter at 

 base. 



Owing to the striking peculiarities of form and color which this species pre- 

 sents, there has been, contrary to what is usually the case with the Sandpipers 

 known to the earlier authors, comparatively little confusion regarding it. As 

 far as I have been able to ascertain, it has been considered as a true Tringa by 

 all authors except Bonaparte (who refers it to Pelidna) up to the time of the 

 General Report, in which work it is very properly made the type of a distinct 

 genus. Most authors have also adopted the original specific appellation given 

 by Briinnich in 17G4; and I have not met with any other name in works pub- 

 lished since 1819, in which j-ear it is given 'as '• Le tringa cendre du Canada, 

 Tringa Canadensis, Lath." by Vieillot. There can be no doubt with regard to 

 the bird which is referred to under this head ; for after a description which 

 applies well to the usual immature plumage, (not that of the very young given 

 in the diagnosis,) the author adds, ''mais ce qui distingue cet oiseau de ceux 

 de son genre, c'est d'avoir les jambes couvertes de plumes jusqu' au talon, et 

 meme au-dessous," — a feature which exclusively characterizes the A. mariiima. 

 Tringa undata of Briinnich, Gmelin, Ac, is considered as the young of this 

 species in the plumage given in the diagnosis, where the light borders of the 

 feathers of the upper parts and the transverse mottling of the lower give to the 

 bird a somewhat wavy appearance. Tringa striata of Linnaeus, Gmelin, «fec., is 

 generally supposed to refer to this species. Pallas gives it as Trynga arqua- 

 tella, an appellation from which the generic name is derived. 



ANCYLOCHEILUS Kaup. 

 Erolia, Vieillot, Analyse, 1816, .^)5 ; Typus Scolopax gubarquata Guld., secundum 

 G. R. Gray et Gen. Rep. {^^rolia, Vieill., Gal. 1834 = Erolia.) 



[July, 



