BAY BIRDS. 331 



ropes are very abundant around the pools, sloughs, and 

 meadows of the West, but wliile some breed there, others 

 go north, and are only found in the United States during 

 their migrations. One of the commonest is Wilson's 

 phalarope {Stcganopus tvilsonii), whose slender, awl- 

 shaped bill enables a person to readily distinguish it from 

 other bay birds. The upper parts are of an ashy hue; the 

 under parts are white; and a black stripe extends down- 

 ward from the eye to the neck. The Northern phala- 

 rope {Lobipes hyperbreos) is only found in the United 

 States during its migrations. Its hue is grayish-black 

 above, varied with tawny on the back; the under parts 

 are white; the sides of the head and neck are marked 

 with a broad chestnut stripe; and the nj^per tail-coverts 

 are white. The red phalarope {Phalaropus fulicarius) 

 is an active, graceful, finely formed bird. Its lobed feet 

 enables it to travel readily in the water; hence it is fre- 

 quently found some distance from land. It is only a mi- 

 gratory visitor to the United States. The upper parts 

 are tawny and cinerous, and the lower purplish-chestnut, 

 but white in the young. 



The dowitcher, brownback, gray snipe, or red-breasted 

 snipe [Macrorhamplms gi^iseus), is gray above and on the 

 breast in winter, and white on the abdomen, but, in sum- 

 mer, the upper parts are brownish-black, variegated with 

 light-brown, and the under portions are brownish-red va- 

 riegated with dusky. This bird, though called a snipe, 

 differs much from the true snipe in habits, for it prefers 

 the sea-shore to the marshes, and flies in dense flocks, like 

 the sand-pipers. The semipalmated sand-piper {Ereunetes 

 pusillus) and the least sand-piper {Trmga minutilla) 

 are quite common on the sea-shore, associate together, and 

 resemble each other closely in hue, yet they can be readily 

 distinguished apart when dead by the semipalmation of 

 the former. Baird's sand-piper {Tringa bairdii) and 

 the white-rumped sand-piper ( T. bonapartei) are like the 



