SCHINZ'S SANDPIPER. 653 



presented in my plate was made at St. Augustine in East 

 Florida, where I procured tliem on the 2nd of Decem- 

 ber 1831. I have always found these birds gentle and 

 less shy than any other species of the genus. They fly 

 at a considerable height with rapidity, deviating alter- 

 nately to either side, and plunge toward the ground in 

 a manner somewhat resembling that of the Solitary Sand- 

 piper. When accidentally surprised, they start with a 

 repeated meet, less sonorous than that of the bird just men- 

 tioned. They search for food along the margins of pools, 

 creeks, and rivers, or by the edges of sand-bars, and mix 

 with other species."" 



I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Audubon for the 

 only specimen of this Sandpiper I possess, and from M'hich 

 the drawing at the head of this subject and the following 

 description were taken. The bird I believe to have been 

 killed in spring. The beak is straight and nearly black ; the 

 irides brown ; the top of the head and back of the neck ash 

 brown, streaked with dusky ; scapulars and feathers of the 

 back ash brown, some assuming a deep black colour in the 

 centre and becoming rufous on the edges ; wing-coverts ash 

 brown edged with greyish white ; primaries dusky black with 

 white shafts ; secondaries dusky brown with minute tips of 

 white ; tertials dusky brown margined with ash grey ; upper 

 tail-coverts white ; two middle tail-feathers pointed, longer 

 than the others and dark brown ; the rest ash brown ; chin 

 white ; cheeks, sides of the neck and upper part of the breast 

 greyish white, speckled with dusky ; axillary plume white ; 

 belly and under tail-coverts also white ; legs, toes, and claws, 

 almost black, tinged with green. 



The whole length six inches and a half. From the carpal 

 joint of the wing to the end of the first quill-feather, which is 

 the longest, four inches and throe quarters. 



