332 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



least sand-piper in hue, but larger. The white-rumped 

 sjiecies is readily recognized by its white upper tail-cov- 

 erts. The purple sand-piper {T. maritima), which is 

 fond of haunting rocky shores, is ashy-black above, with 

 purplish reflections; the under parts are white; the breast 

 is lighter than the back; and it has a white line over the 

 eye. The hue changes to a slaty-gray in winter; and the 

 young are dotted with dusky below. 



The dunlin, or red-backed sand-piper [T. alpina var. 

 americcma) , is ashy-gray in winter, but in summer the 

 upper parts are chestnut, each feather having a central 

 black field, and nearly all being Avhite-tij)ped; the breast 

 is streaked with dusky; and the under parts are white, 

 excejst the belly, which has a broad, black area. The red- 

 breasted, knot, or robin-snipe {T. canutus), is quite com- 

 mon on the Atlantic Coast. The upper parts are, in 

 summer, brownish-black, the feathers being tipped with 

 ashy-white; and the under are brownish-red. It is gray 

 in winter. The pectoral sand-piper, jack snipe, grass 

 snipe, or marsh plover {T. maculafa), does not look un- 

 like the Wilson snipe, though of course both differ in the 

 shape of the bill. The general hue is grayish, variegated 

 above with chestnut. This species is fonder of muddy 

 flats and salt water marshes than of sandy beaches; it is 

 also found on wet ground distant from large bodies of 

 water. When a wing is alarmed it rises promptly, emit- 

 ting loud, rapid notes, and flies in a zigzag manner, like 

 the snipe, but if it is travelling quietly from one field to 

 another the motion is even. Groups mount to a high 

 altitude sometimes and dart about like feathered spectres, 

 then drop rapidly to the spot from which they rose. This 

 species never goes in large flocks, and that fact, combined 

 with its erratic motion in flight, makes heavy bags quite 

 rare. 



The Bartramian sand-piper, upland plover, or field 

 plover {Actiturus bartratnu(s), is blackish above, varie- 



