2*^'-^ BARTRAArS SiANr>PIPf:F. 



HABITS 

 The (xscttrrence of the RulF whi(;h is a well-known European bird, in North Americfry 

 is qu'te r;ire but it lias now been taken here too often to be regarded as a mere straggler^ 

 and the same reniiii-ks may refer to this species that I have applied to tlie Curlew Sand- 

 piper, regarding its breeding on our side of the Atlantic but in high latitudes. Nuttall, 

 in 1834, was the first to reconl it from North America. Then JNIr. Geo. N. Lawrence, 

 writiug i:i Birds of North America, in 1858, gives it as accidental on Long Island, ;uid 

 again records it in his Birds of New York in 1866. Mr Gr. A. Boardman found one or two 

 at Calais l)ul: on the New Brunswick side of the St. Croix. Mr. William Brewster obtained 

 a female Iroai t!ie Nuwliuryijort marshes, on the twentieth of May, 1871. This is given, 

 upon Prof. Baird's authority, as being the sixth specimen ever obtained in Norih America. 

 Mr. Brewster's binl hail the ovaries quite well developed and would have laid within two 

 or three weeks. On the tenth of November, 3872, Dr. Theo. Jasper took one thirty miles 

 east of Columbus, Ohio, which is, I think, the only specimen ever taken so far in the in- 

 terior. Mr. Brewster, on the eighth of September, 1874, was fortunate enough to obtain 

 another female at Upton, Maine. As I write, I have a fine specimen before mc, obtained at 

 Chatham, Massachusetts, about the fifteenth of September of the present year, 1880. This- 

 is a female of the year and Mr. Gordon Plummer has secured it fur his fine collection of 

 North American birds. At the suggestion of Mr. W. B. Dowse, Mr. Plummer has kindly- 

 forwarded the specimen to nic ibr examination and identification, and I have based my 

 above given description of the young, upon this specimen which I believe is the ninth re- 

 corded as liaving been taken in North America, the third from New England, and the sec- 

 ond from Massachusetts. It is worthy of note, that none of the specimens yet taken on the 

 continent, have the peculiar, elongated feathers about the neck as seen in European male' 

 birds. 



UEJiUS VIII. ACniURUS. THE HIGHLAND SANDPIPERS. 



(lEN. Cii. Bill, about as lon(j as head, a little curved, slender, ami not expariiled at tip. Gape, wide. Head , larye and 

 neck, small. 



The sternum is nan-iiw, iib)ut as wiile as height of keei whk'h dues D(it exceed the length of coracoicls. Outer margin- 

 al iniientation--, wide iind three times as deep as inner. Legs, long and stout. Tail, long and roundeil. The stomach is 

 oval in f.inii, quite muscular, and lined with ahard, linely rugose membrane. The ijroventriculus is large. The intestines 

 are small l)ut long, and the cceca rather short, with blind ends dilated. Tlie sterno-treachealis is quite stout and there is 

 a weak bronchialis, but no other laryngeal muscles. Tympaniform membrane, present but there is no os transversale. Sex- 

 es similar. Tiiere is but one species within our limits. 



ACTITl/EUS BARTRAMIUS. 

 Bartram's Sandpiper. 



Artiturus Bnrtramius LlSN., Box., Saggio; 1831. 

 DESCRIPTION. 



Sr. V\\. KoniL, rathei- slender. Size, large. Tongue,, not long, thin, wiile at base, then naniiwmg gradually to tip 

 which i< |)ointc(l. 



I'.iLoii. Ailull. Above, (lark-brown, haling a greenish gloss, with every featlier, excepting primaries which are mot- 

 tled anil baniled with whitish on the inner webs, edged with yellowish-iish and rnfou'-'. Rump, uniiiarl;eil. Outer upper 

 tail covcr:s, bandad with yellowisli-a-li. Tail, ashy-buff, darker in the cenfer, tipped with white and banded with dark- 

 brown. Beneath, yellowish-white, banded on under wing coverts and axillaries, and spotted, in arrow-shaped marks, on 

 neck, lireast, and 'iiles, with dark-brown. 



Youny. Similar to the adult, but more yellowisli above, the secondaries and inner primaries are tipped wiili whiter 

 Bill, iris, and feet, brown, in jdl stages. 



