348 PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 



In the Sandpipers the female is similar to the male, being only some- 

 what larger. The young differ from the adult, and they moult twice a 

 year, changing greatly the colors of their plumage. These are a mixture 

 of white and cinereous, changing in summer to rufous and black. 



The Sandpipers are maritime birds that live in flocks, oftentimes 

 composed of different species, on sandy beaches or muddy shores, pre- 

 ferring mostly salt water. They migrate with the changes of the sea- 

 sons along coasts and rivers, and are seldom seen in the temperate 

 climates of North America and Europe, except during autumn, win- 

 ter, and more especially in spring, when they are the most numerous. 

 They retire to the north to breed, which they do socially among the 

 grass near the water, but never in our climates. They feed on insects, 

 mollusca, and other small animals, which they seek in soft ground by 

 thrusting in their flexible bill, or among the rejectamenta of the sea. 

 They run rapidly, and generally fly near the surface of the water in a 

 straight line, and during the day, only short distances. Their flesh, 

 though esculent, is by no means palatable, being too fishy : they grow 

 amazingly fat in autumn, though their fat is not firm, but very oily. 

 They are caught however in Italy by spreading nets on their feeding 

 grounds, and in the United States great numbers are destroyed by the 

 gun. 



Spread over all the globe, some of the species even, the Sandpipers 

 are very difficult to distinguish from one another, marked traits being 

 few, and detailed descriptions applying mostly to individual specimens. 

 The species have been wantonly multiplied by superficial observers, and 

 too much reduced perhaps by scientific men. We must chiefly rely on 

 the relative dimensions of the bill and the length of the tarsus in fixing 

 them. In North America are found at least ten of the subgenus Tringa, 

 most of which likewise inhabit Europe, that has eight : the Pectoral 

 Sandpiper is the only one besides the T. pudlla of those American 

 registered in our Synopsis that is not found in Europe. 



This new species, though it is quite as large, if not larger than the 

 Tringa alpina, has a shorter bill ; which is besides reddish at base, dis- 

 tinguishing it at once from all the species it could be confounded with, 

 since each of them has the bill entirely black : the T. maritima and T. 

 flatyrhynca have a similarly colored bill, but are otherwise too well 

 marked to be mistaken ; the former by the restricted naked space of the 

 tibia, and the latter by the depressed form of its bill. 



The Pectoral Sandpiper is eight and a half inches long, some females 

 being nearly nine : the bill is little more than an inch long, compressed 

 throughout, reddish yellow at base, the rest black, and with a few Snipe- 

 like punctures near the tip. The crown of the head is black, each 

 feather margined with rufous : the orbits, a line over the eye, and the 

 forehead narrowly are whitish, minutely dotted with blackish ; the irides 



