460 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



tion of size from 1.40 by 1 inch to 1.26 by .95 inch. I can 

 see no marked peculiarity in any series of specimens, except- 

 ing that those collected in the interior of Maine average 

 a little larger than those from the seacoast. 



The flight of the Spotted Sandpiper is generally low, its 

 wings being kept bent at an angle beneath its body. It has 

 a peculiar note, like peet-weet, peet-weet, easily recognized. 



ACTITURUS, BONAPARTE. 



Actiturus, BONAPARTE, Saggio, etc., (1831). (Type Tringa Bartramia, Wil- 

 son.) 



Upper mandible grooved laterally to within the terminal fourth, the lower not 

 quite so far; culmen concave to near the tip, where it is slightly decurved; gonya 

 straight ; mouth deeply cleft, almost as far back as the anterior canthus ; the culmen 

 only about two-thirds the commissure, shorter than the head or tarsus, and about 

 equal to middle toe without claw; feathers extending much further forward on the 

 upper jaw than on the lower, although those of chin reach nearly to end of nostrils; 

 tarsus one and a half times middle toe and claw; the bare part of tibia not quite 

 equal to the middle toe above ; outer toe united at base as far as first joint ; web of 

 inner toe very basal ; tail long, graduated, more than half the wings. 



ACTITUEUS B ARTRAMIUS. Bonaparte. 

 The Upland Plover ; Bartram's Sandpiper ; Field Plover. 



Tringa Bartramia, Wilson. Am. Orn., VII. (1813) 63. And. Birds Amer., V. 

 (1842) 248. 



Totanus Bartramius, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 24. 

 . Tringa (Euliga) Bartramia, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 168. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill about as long as the head, rather wide and flattened at base, curved at the 

 tip; nostril with a large membrane; nasal groove long; wing long; tail long for this 

 group; legs moderate or rather long; lower half of the tibia naked; toes moderate, 

 the outer and middle toe united by a membrane, inner and middle free to the base, 

 hind toe small ; general color of the upper parts brownish-black, with a greenish lus- 

 tre, and with the feathers edged with ashy-white and yellowish, the latter especially 

 on the wing coverts; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail coverts, brownish- 

 black; lateral coverts of the tail yellowish-white, with arrow-heads and irregular 

 spots of black ; wide stripe over the eye, and entire under parts very pale yellowish- 

 white, nearly pure-white on the abdomen; neck before with numerous longitudinal 

 lines of brownish-black ; breast and sides with waved and pointed transverse narrow 

 bands of the same ; axillary feathers and under wing coverts pure-white, with nume- 

 rous nearly regular transverse narrow bands of black ; quills brownish-black, with 

 numerous transverse bands of white on their inner webs, very conspicuous on the 

 under surface of the wing; shaft of first primary white; middle feathers of the tail 



