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LEA ■■ST SANDPIPER. 



TRINGA MINUTILLA. 

 Least Sandpiper. 

 Trini/a minnlilla Vieii.l., Nauv. Diet., XXXIV; 1819, 452. 



Dl'JSCRiraoN. 



Si'. Cu. FdViii, slender. Size, very siiinll. Tail, d lulily emarglnate. Tongue, long, tliin, and slender, narrdwing: 

 gi-adually to tip wliieh i-^ pointed. Bill, slender, not widenel at tij). Outer marginal indentations, twice a.s deep as inner. 

 Toes, witliout biisal membrane. 



CoLoii. Adult. Above, dark-brown, witli tlie feather.*, excepting ))riiiiaries, bordered with yelIowi-;l'.jadi. rufous, 

 and white. Tail feathers, excepting middle )iair which are dark-brown, ashy. Line from bill over eye and entire under 

 pans, wliite, tinged on sides of head, across bicast, and on sides -with ,>cllowisli-ash, and tiiese pr.rts are iiiiely streaked 

 witli dark-brown 



Younij. Similar to the adult but much more rufous above and lacks, in a great measure, thestreakings below. Bill, 

 black, iris, brown, legs, greenish-yellow, in all sfciges. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 Known by tl esmall size, slender bill, gretnish legs, and absence of basal toe membrane. Distri''uted, in summer, 

 from Labradoi-, northward; wintering from the Carolinas, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 

 Average measurements of specimens fi'om Ea.stern North America. Length, 6' 13; stretch, I2"0S; vicg, 3'C)"; mil. \CQ; 

 bill, '85; tarsus, 'ri. Longe-t specimen, 6'7(i: greatest extent of wing, 12' 17; longest wing, 3 80: tail 1 85: bi 1, 95; t.ir- 

 sus, '80. Shortest spe -imen, o 65; smal'est extent of wing, li'flO; shortest wing, 3 53: tail, 1 50; bill, (>5; la sus, Ti5. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 Eii(;s, placed on the ground in a .slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc., three or four in nr.mber, decided- 

 ly pyriform in shape, varying from creamy to bull in color, spotted and blotched irregularly, and quite t ickly. wit'; browa 

 of varying sliailes. Dimensions from 'TOx 'gil to 'TS.x I flO. 



HABITS. 

 Li'ust 8an<lpipei'.s ur Peeps of sportsmen are, perhaps, the best known of game birds, 

 for they are the legitimate prey of every one, from the ragged urchin who chooses to en- 

 flanger his life by burning gunpowder in a dihipiihited tube which was formerly a gun, to 

 tl.o city ex(|uisite who, armed with costly breech loader, .sallies out to make havoc among the 

 Curlew and Plover but whose greatest actual achievement consists in knocking over a fow 

 Peeps as they sit by the pools on the marshes. In habits, these pretty little shore birds 

 do not diller from the majority of the members of the genus. Tliey are fond of the marsh- 

 es and it is not uncommon to start solitary indi\i(hials or small flocks consisting of three 

 or four sp.'cinrnis, tV.jm out the grass, when they will rise with a feeble cry and make- 

 their way swiitly, in an eccentric flight across the fl.ats. They may also often be seen on 

 the boaches in company with larger wading birds, and it is noticeable that the small species 

 :u-e seldom, ii'ever, molested by the larger. Thus I h;ive fntiueiitly ob.served a number of 

 Pi'cps ruuiiiu,;- ;ibont among a flock of Sickle-billed Curlew, without the latter appearing 

 to pay the slightest attention to the little birds, even when they passed directly beneath their 

 long hills. In time of migration, these birds closely resemble the preceiling species. 



TKINGA BAIRDI. 



Baird's Sandpiper. 



Triniin Bairri Sri,., P. Z. S.; li-f,7, 332. 



DESCRIPTION. 

 Si'. C'n. Korm, slender. Size, rather small. Bill, slender, but little shorter than che head, iind sliglitly widened at 

 tip. Toes, without basal membrane. Tcmgue, long, thin, and slender, tapering toward tip w!;ich is pointed. Outer mar- 

 ;;Lnal indentations, twice a« deep as inner. 



