116 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



into it. The eggs, four in number, of a dull brownish-buff or clay 

 color, spotted, blotched and stained with chestnut, principally about 

 the larger end ; their average size is 1.43 x i.oi. 



244. Tringa ferruginea BRUNN. [540-] 



Curlew Sandpiper. 



Hab. Old World in general, occasional in Eastern North America and in Alaska. 



A bird with a bill resembling that of the Curlews long, slender, 

 compressed and considerably decurved. The length of the bird is 

 about eight and a half inches. It is said to be one of the rarest of the 

 Sandpipers which visit North America. A common species in Siberia, 

 where it breeds. Said to breed in Holland, Denmark and northward 

 into Norway, Sweden, and in Finland. In England it is nowhere 

 abundant and does not assemble in large flocks like the Dunlin or 

 Purre. A few pairs are believed to breed in Great Britain. Known to 

 breed in various portions of Greenland nesting near the margins of 

 lakes and rivers where the eggs are deposited in a slight hollow of the 

 ground, lined with bits of grass. The eggs are four in number, pyri- 

 form in shape, pale grayish or greenish-buff, spotted and blotched with 

 chestnut-brown. They are hardly distinguishable from those of the Pec- 

 toral or Red-backed Sandpiper's eggs; size 1.50x1.04. 



246. Ereunetes pusillus (LINN.) [541.] 



Semipalmated Sandpiper. 



Hab Northern and Eastern North America; west during the migrations to Rocky Mountains. 



This little " Peep " is found everywhere in North America. In 

 the summer it is distributed from Labrador and western shores of Hud- 

 son Bay northward, this being its breeding grounds. In spring and 

 fall it is an abundant migrant in United States, thronging the beaches, 

 the gravelly and sandy shores of streams and muddy banks of ponds, 

 in company with the Spotted Sandpiper and others, with which it is 

 usually confounded. It winters from the Carolinas southward. It has 

 the same ''tweet, ''tweet as the Spotted Sandpiper, and utters it frequent- 

 ly, both on the shore and when flying. The Semipalmated Sandpiper 

 arrives in the Saskatchewan River country about the middle of May, 

 where it deposits its eggs early in June on a few pieces of withered 

 grass in a slight hollow in the ground. These are three or four in num- 

 ber, and measure from 1.20 to 1.25 long by .82 to .85 broad. In a large 

 series the usual variations in color are noticeable ; the ground color 

 varying from clay to grayish or greenish-drab or positive olive tint ; 

 usually boldly spotted and splashed with umber or chestnut-brown ; 

 thickest about the largest end ; and again, in some, very fine dots are 

 distributed over the entire surface. 



