TKINOOWES MACULABJUS. nft? 



CENUS X. TKINGOIDES. TUE TILTING iSANDI'IPKRS. 



(lEN. Cii. Bill, ahoul as h»i(j as head, slender, not curved nor expanded at tip. Gape, not wide. Head , not lari/e , ana 

 neck, modera/e. Manjinal indrnlalions. two. 



The sternum is narrow, iiljout as wiiU; as lioiglit of keel which does not cxi-eod tlie length of ooracoids. Tlic two mar- 

 ginal indentations are wide and deep. Lei;s, short and there {■• a prominent membrane between tlie outer and midcile KjCs. 

 Tail, moderate. Other cliaraetei-s do not differ strikingly from those given under the two preceding genera. Sexes, sim- 

 ilar. Tliere is but one species within our limits. 



TBINGOIDES MACULARIUS. 

 Spotted Sandpiper. 



Trinyoides macularius Grav, List; 1849. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sp. Cn. Form, rather slender. Size, medium. Tongue, long, thin, not horny, narrowing gradually to tip which is 

 pointed. 



Color. Adult. Above, dark greenish-brown, having a greenish gloss, handed and spotted, excepting on primaries, 

 with dark-brown. Base and tips of secondaries, inner primaries, tips of greater wing coverts, line from bill over eye, and 

 under parts, white, the latter marked everywhere with rounded spots of greenish-brown. Tail, tipped with white and band- 

 ed on outer feathers with dark-brown. 



Youny. Ashy-brown above, with every feather edged with white, preceded, excepting on primaries, by aband of dark- 

 brown. Beneath, white, tinged with ashy across breast. 



Nestli/tf/s. Above, ashy, marked witli black, and beneath, white. Bill, brown, yellowatbase, iris, brown, and legs, 

 greenish-yellow, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 Readily known by the presence of the membrane between the outer and midiile toes, .straight bill, the peculiar ashy 

 color above, glossed with greenish, and round spottings below. Distributed, in summer, from the Caroliuas, northward; 

 wintering from this point, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 7'60; stretch , 1335; wing, 425: tail, 2 05; 

 l)ill, 100; tai'sus, -92. Longest specimen, 800; greatest extent of wing, 13-75; longest wing, 4-40; tail, 2 3(', bill, l' 10; tar- 

 sus, 100. Shortest specimen, 7-40: smallest extent of wing, 13-00; shortest wing, 410; tail, 1 80; bill, 90; tarsus, -85. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 E'/ys, placed on the ground in a slight depression of thesoil, on a little grass, etc., three or four in number, decided- 

 ly pyriforra in shape, varying from creamy to buff in color, spotted, blotched, and dotted, with reddish-brown of varying 

 shades, with the usual sliell markings of lilac. Dimensions from -Udx 1 30 to 'OSx 1 40. 



HABITS. 

 There are few who do not recognize the \)eGnYu\r peet-iveet of the spotted Sandpiper's, 

 as they skim about the fields with their peculiar (light, or stand on some stone in tlie l)rook, 

 teetering briskly up and down, as they examine the intruih'r. I have always found tliem 

 common wherever I have been, whether on the sandy beaches at the foot of liie liigli clifts 

 on the Magdalen Islands, in the fields of New England, along the water courses of tlie Mid- 

 dle and Southern States, or on the partly submerged isbinds which lie in the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, and they always appear as much at homo when panning along tlie sandy .shores of the 

 far North, or jumping from root to root of the mangroves in the South, as they do in the 

 cultivated fields of Massachusetts. The Spotted S;iudpipcrs are common during winter, 

 from the Caroliuiis to Key West, but migrate northward in spring, arriving in Massachu- 

 setts about the first of May. They breed early in June, often placing the nest on the m;ir- 

 giii of a grain fitdd, in ;i jiotato piitch or strawberry bed. On Grand Menan, where they 

 are very numerous, they nest in the grassy fields near pools, an<l along the sea co;ist of 

 Massachusetts, they build in" the beach grass, just above high water mark. The females sit 



