206 SCOLOPACID^ : SNIPE, ETC. 



STILT SANDPIPER. 



MiCROPALAMA HIMANTOPUS {Bp) Bd. 



Chars. Bill somewhat as in MacrorhanipJncs, but shorter, less 

 evidently widened at the end, and not so distinctly furrowed. 

 Legs very long ; tibiae bare an inch ; tarsus as long as the bill ; 

 toes semipalmate. Length, 8.50-900; extent, 16.00-17.00; 

 wing, 5.00; tail, 2.25 ; bill or tarsus, i. 50-1. 70; middle toe and 

 claw, i.oo. Adults in summer: above blackish, each feather 

 edged with white and tawny or bay, becoming scolloped on the 

 scapulars ; auriculars chestnut ; a dusky line from bill to eye, and 

 a light reddish superciliary line ; upper tail-coverts white with 

 dusky bars ; tail-feathers 12, ashy-gray, their edges and central 

 fields white ; under parts mixed reddish, black and whitish, 

 in streaks on the jugulum, elsewhere in bars. Young birds and 

 adults in winter have a dress chiefly ashy above and white 

 below, the sides and jugulum suffused with the color of the back, 

 and streaked with dusky ; legs usually pale greenish-yellow. 



This very interesting Sandpiper has been the inno- 

 cent cause of so much contrariety of opinion among New- 

 England writers, that it will be well to review the whole 

 case. 



Coues included it in 1868 upon presumptive evidence 

 of its occurrence (Pr. Essex Inst., v, 1868, p. 294). 

 Specimens had indeed been taken in New England 

 at that date, as at Plymouth and Swampscott, Mass., 

 in 1852, in 1857 or 1858, and in i860; but no record had 

 been published. 



In his notes on the rarer birds of Massachusetts, 

 Allen cites cases of its occurrence in that state and in 

 New Hampshire (Am. Nat., iii, 1870, p. 639). 



A specimen from Needham, Mass., July 24, 1871, is 

 recorded by Mr. O. Fuller (Am. Nat., v, 1871, p. 727). 



