3o6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



1 5 , and November 30. Mr Savage records a specimen from Strawberry island, 

 Niagara river, October 1892, but no others have been taken on our inland 

 waters, as far as I know, although western New York lies nearer than Long 

 Island to the usual migration route of the species. 



Micropalama himantopus (Bonaparte) 



Stilt Sandpiper 



Plates 3.', 34 



T r i n g a himantopus Bonaparte. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1826. 2; 157 



H e m i p a 1 m a himantopus DeKay. Zoo!. N. Y. pt 2, p. 235, fig. 196 



Micropalama h i m a n t o p ti s A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. ^O- 233 



iiiicropa'huna, Gr. /xixpos, small, -n-aXaixt} , a web; liinia)i'topns, Gr. v/xui'toVods, 

 strap-legged, or crook-shanked 



Description. Legs long and slender; toes webbed at base; bill long, 

 slender, slightly curved. Summer: Upper parts black, margined and streaked 

 with grayish and buffy or rufous ; upper tail coverts barred with white and 

 dusky; tail mingled white and ashy; wings grayish, primaries changing to 

 fuscous and the secondaries edged with white ; ear coverts and the side and 

 rear margins of the crown rufous; under parts white, often washed with red- 

 dish, extensively barred with fuscous; bill and legs dusky greenish. Winter: 

 Upper parts ashy gray, sometimes with traces of black and Ijuft"; under 

 parts white, indistinctly streaked on the neck and breast with dusky and 

 barred wth black on the sides; tail and its upper coverts white, the former 

 margined and the latter barred with ashy. Young: Similar, the upper 

 parts usually dusky margined with buffy white; legs greenish yellow. 



Length 8-9 inches; extent 16-17; wing 5-5.25; tail 2.25; bill i. 5-1. 75; 

 tarsus 1. 6-1. 75; middle toe and claw i ; tibia bare i. 



The Stilt sandpiper inhabits eastern America, breeding in the arctic 

 regions and migrating in winter to the West Indies and South America. 

 In New York this species is not as rare as has been general!}' supposed, 

 probably being overlooked b\' gunners from its resemblance in fall to the 

 Yellow-legs. Lawrence [N. O. C. Bui. 3:148] mentions it as common on 

 the south side cjf Long Island from July to September. Mr Butcher's Long 

 Island Notes record about 150 specimens shot between 1882 and 1893 ^"d. 

 many others seen, often in flocks ranging from 11-60 individuals, the dates 

 ranging from July 12 to October 10. In the spring it is less common, or 



