162 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Genus ARQUATELLA Baird. 



235. Arqtiatella maritima (Brunn.). Purple Sandpiper; 

 Winter Peep; Rock Snipe; Winter Snipe. 



Plumage of summer adults : head dusky with buffy streaks ; upper parts 

 black with buffy margins to the feathers of light and darkish shades ; greater 

 wing coverts white margined ; wings and upper tail coverts fuscous ; inner 

 tail feathers fuscous, outer ones gray; throat and breast brownish gray 

 streaked with darker ; sides and under tail coverts streaked with brownish 

 gray ; belly white. Plumage of winter adults : above sooty with purplish 

 gloss ; scapulars and wing coverts with terminal dark gray borders ; chest 

 brownish gray; breast and belly whitish, otherwise similar to summer. 

 Immature plumage : dusky above with whitish borders to the scapulars and 

 wing coverts ; otherwise similar to other plumage. Wing 4.90 to 5.30 ; 

 culmen 1.30 ; tarsus 0.95. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern portion of northern hemisphere ; on American side 

 migrating south to the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley and along 

 the Atlantic coast ; casual in Florida ; breeds within the Arctic Circle. 



County Records — Cumberland; fairly common in winter, (Brock). Han- 

 cock; one taken at Saddleback Ledge, August 19, 1896, (Knight). Knox; 

 winter, (Rackliff); one taken at Metinic Reef, August 11, 1902, which was a 

 female in essentially winter plumage, (Norton). Sagadahoc; common in 

 winter, (Spinney). Washington; abundant in winter, (Boardman). 



This species occurs along the coast in winter, being locally 

 quite often seen in small sized flocks, usually from November 

 until March or early April. It is occasionally found in August 

 and September. Dr. Richardson reports that they breed abun- 

 dantly on the Melville Peninsula and on the shores of Hudson 

 Bay. The nest is described as a mere depression in the soil, 

 scantily lined with grass, in which four pyriform eggs are laid. 

 The eggs are clay color, heavily marked with rufous brown, 

 especially at the larger end. 



Genus ACTODROMAS Kaup. 



239. Actodroma^ maculata (Vieill.). Pectoral Sandpiper. 



Plumage of summer adults : general blackish color above, the feathers 



being bordered with ochraceous buff ; the longest middle tail feathers pointed 



and buffy margined ; outer tail feathers shorter, brownish gray with white 



margins ; below white, the throat and breast so heavily streaked with black 



