THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 677 
up, a quivering speck appears, approaches, passes onward, anon scattering 
broadcast the rolling whistle without an added tremor of the wings.” 
The bird is part Sandpiper, part Plover, to appearance, its short bill serv- 
ing instantly to distinguish it from the Long-billed Curlew, which it resembles 
otherwise in choice of range and in general economy. It is very rare, possibly 
nothing more than accidental, west of the Rocky Mountains, but there are two 
records of its occurrence in British Columbia. 
No. 275. 
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 
A. O. U. No. 262. Tryngites subruficollis ( Vieill.). 
Description.—Adult: Upperparts dull grayish buff or grayish brown varied 
by blackish or olive-brown centers of feathers; underparts buff, dotted and 
streaked on sides of breast with blackish; the inner webs of the primaries, both 
webs of the secondaries, and the tips of the larger under wing-coverts speckled 
with black; axillars white; bill dusky; feet and legs greenish yellow. Jimmature: 
Like adult, but feathers of back, ete., rounded, distinctly bordered with whitish, 
the speckling of wing-quills and under coverts finer than in adults. Length 
7.25-8.75 (184.2-222.3) ; wing 5.23 (132.8) ; tail 2.33 (59.2) ; bill .77 (19.6; tarsus 
1.20 (30.5). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; general buffiness of coloration; short, 
straight, blackish bill; black speckling on wing-quills and under coverts distinctive. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Eggs: 3 or 4, buffy grayish white, 
varying to pale olive, boldly spotted longitudinally (and somewhat spirally ) with 
dark Vandyke or madder brown and purplish gray (Ridgw.). Av. size, 1.47 x 
1.06 (37.3 x 26.9). 
General Range.—North America, especially in the interior; breeds in the 
Yukon district and in the interior of British America northward to the Arctic 
Coast ; South America in winter as far as Uraguay and Peru. Of frequent occur- 
rence in Europe. 
Range in Washington.— ‘Common at Shoalwater bay during the migrating 
season” (Cooper). No recent records. 
Authorities.—T7ryngites rufescens (Vieill.) Cab., Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 
Surv. IX. 1858, p. 740. C&S. 
Specimens.— Prov. 
A SUSPICION—a shot—a record—and a mystery. These be the short 
and simple annals of several Sandpipers, not only for this State but others as 
well. Suspicions are permissible if not too frequently directed against birds 
we ought to know are common; the records are much quoted by scientific men; 
while the mysteries are being solved by the hardy explorers of the North—to 
