206 BVFF-BRF.ASJt'.D SANDPIPER 



GKNUS IX. TKYNGITES. THE BUFFY SANDPIPERS. 



Gen. Ch. Bi//, about as /ony as head, slraijjlit and slender, but not iai:anded at lip. Curaeoids, exceeding/ in lenyth the 

 height of heel . Mari/ina/ indentations, four; outer, tuiee as deep as inner. Hind toe, present. 



Jlem'iers of this gouuM are ([uitr sra;ill in -ii/.e wliea compareJ with those of the preceding, l>ut, excepting the slight 

 tlilTerences gi\en ahove, resemble them ia anat.uuical and other eluiracters. Si?ses, q^uite similar. Thei-e is but one spe- 

 cies within our limits. 



TRYNGITES RUFESCENS. 

 Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 



Tryngites rufescens Caij., Journ.; 1819, 470. 



DESCEIPTION. 



Sp. Cii Form, slender. Size, medium. Bill,slender and feathered to nostrils. Tail, long and well nmnded. Wing'),. 

 tmg and piinted. 



Color. Adult. Ab.ive. pak> asliy-brown, every feather lined and spotted centrally with black, glossed with green- 

 is!;. Primai'ies, dark-brown, with innner webs ashy, inarb'e 1 with black. Tail, ashy-brown, darker on middle featliers, 

 lipped with wliite and transversely b:inded wiib wavy lines of black. Under portions, pale bufFy-red, lighter on flanks and- 

 a';domen, with p;irtly concealed spots of dark-brown on breast. Asillaries, white. 



Youny. !5imilar to the adult but the fdatliers beneath .are eJged with whitish. Bill, black, iris, brown, and feet, green- 

 i>-h-yi'llo\v. in all stages. 



OiiSERVATIONS. 

 Known from all others by the slender, straight bill, uniform butfy tints below, peculiar marblings to the inner webs of 

 primaries, and colors as (les<«-ihed. Distributed, in summer, throughout the Arctic Regions;, wintering .south of the United. 

 State-. 



DIMENSIONS. 

 Average mea.surements of speciimens from Eastern North America. Length, 8'45; stretch, I6-66; wing, 5-20; tail,. 

 2 39; bill, 8(1; larsus, 1-25. L in^'est spsci'iien, 8-9;t; gre.it.'st extent of win?, 17-4i); longest wing, 5-43: tail.i!-64; bill, 'Bo;, 

 t:irsus, I 3."), .S'lorlcst specimen, &-0:l; smallest extentof wing, 15-75; shortest wing, 4-95; tail, 2-15; bill, "75; tai-sus, I-15. 



DRSCRIPTIUN OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 F</i/^, i>laeed on the groun-J in a slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc. They are from two to four in num- 

 ber, pyriform in sliape, varying from ashy-yellow to greenish-brown in color, spotted and blotched irregularly and thickly 

 with umbr-brown of varying shades. Dimensijns from> r02x I'40 to riOxl'SO. 



HABITS. 



The Buff-breasted Sandpipers occur during the autumnal migration, in New England, 

 and although they cannot be called rare, they are never very common. They make their 

 appearand; from the North, about the middle of August, frequenting the elevated sections 

 near the coast. Occasionally a flock of half a dozen of these birds, may be seen, flying 

 swiftly along the hilt sides, but it is more common to find solitary individuals in company 

 with the preceding species which they somewhat resemble in habit; or they may sometimes 

 be seen with Black-breasted and Golden Plover, and like all this class of birds, appear to 

 be attracted to the hill tops by the locusts, upon which they feed, though I have found bee- 

 tles, as well as other insects, in their crops. Those handsome Sandpipers do not appear to' 

 be found .south of New Jersey, and north of this point, they occur as autumnal migrants,, 

 the hist one disappearing by the first of October. As they winter quite south of the Uni- 

 ted States, they must, consequently, pass over the more southern portion of our country,, 

 and they either do so without alighting, or their presence has been overlooked by the orni- 

 thologists who have collected there. The note of the Bull-breasts is a clear whistle, giverb 

 at intervals as they fly. They breed along the coast of Arctic America, from Andersom 

 Riv(n\ eastward. 



