598 



SOLITARY SANDPIPER. 



Other times it probes the soft mud for worms and minute crusta- 

 ceans. The note is a sharp whistle. 



This species is about the same size as the Wood-Sandpiper, but 

 its upper parts are even less spotted than those of the Green Sand- 

 piper ; the tail-coverts and central pair of rectrices are chiefly olive- 

 broicm, only minutely flecked with white, while all the remaining 

 tail-feathers are boldly barred with black and 7vhite on both webs ; the 

 head, neck and under parts are much the same as in the Common 

 Sandpiper ; the axillaries are barred angularly with black and white 

 in nearly equal proportions. Length 8'25 in.; wing 5*2 in. Its 

 nearest ally is our Green Sandpiper, and, like that species, it has 

 only one large notch on each side of the posterior margin of the 

 sternum. 



The upper figures represent, respectively, a feather from the 

 axillaries and one from the middle of the tail of the Wood-Sand- 

 piper; below them are similar feathers from the Green Sandpiper. 

 The axillaries of the Solitary Sandpiper resemble those of the latter 

 in pattern, but the white bars are much broader. 



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