SNIPE AND SANDPIPERS: Family Scolopacidae [2.59] 



American Knot: 



Calidris canutus rufus (Wilson) 



DESCRIPTION. "The only species of Tringa in which the middle pair of tail feathers 

 are not decidedly longer than the rest. Adults in summer: upper parts grayish and 

 dusky, tinged with buff; rump and upper tail coverts white, barred and spotted with 

 dusky; line over eye and most of under parts pale cinnamon; flanks and under tail 

 coverts white. Adults in winter: upper parts plain gray; under parts, rump, and tail 

 coverts white, barred or streaked with dusky except on belly and under tail coverts. 

 Young: like adults in winter but gray feathers of back edged with whitish and dusky, 

 and breast often suffused with buffy. Length: 10-11, wing 6.50, tail 1.50, bill 1.40." 

 (Bailey) Nest: A hollow in the ground. Eggs: 4, olive buff, spotted and scrawled 

 with brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeding range is little known but is in far north on 

 Arctic islands. Winters in southern hemisphere. In Oregon: Rare straggler on coast. 



WOODCOCK (1901) first listed the American Knot as an Oregon bird on 

 B. J. Bretherton's statement that it was a rare migrant on Yaquina Bay. 

 It is of interest that the three specimens taken in Oregon since that time 

 have all been taken at Seal Rocks, a few miles south of Newport. M. E. 

 Peck collected two birds there on August 19, 1914, and Braly took the 

 third 15 years later at almost the same spot on August 31, 192.9. One of 

 the curious anomalies that makes bird study such a fascinating subject is 

 the behavior of this bird. It is common on the California coast and at 

 times abundant at Willapa Harbor just to the north of the Columbia 

 River, but the bird either has not scheduled any Oregon stops or passes 

 along the coast at sea. 



Aleutian Sandpiper: 



Arquatella ftilocnemis couesi Ridgway 



DESCRIPTION. Adult in spring: Above, dark brown, variegated on the edges and tips 

 of the feathers with a little whitish or grayish and much deep rusty; below, white, 

 blotched or spotted with gray, rusty, or black in variable proportions without 

 much pattern across breast and along flanks; throat paler; legs dull yellowish or 

 yellowish green. In winter: Above, black with purple iridescence, feathers edged 

 with grayish; below, white with broad breast band of ashy gray. Si%e: Length 

 7.50-9.00, wing 4.50-5.15, bill .98-1.2.5. Nest: A depression, scantily lined with 

 dead leaves, grass, and feathers. Eggs: Usually 4, occasionally 5, olive to olive- 

 buff, heavily and irregularly marked, chiefly about the larger end, with blotches 

 and spots of dark brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on northeastern coast of Siberia and west coast of 

 Alaska and on adjacent islands south to Aleutians. Winters south to Oregon 

 coast. In Oregon: Rare winter visitor. 



THE ALEUTIAN SANDPIPER is a rare winter visitor on the Oregon coast 

 from December 17 (Lincoln County) to April 15 (Tillamook County), 

 where it frequents the rocky headlands most favored by the Black Turn- 

 stones, Surf-birds, and Wandering Tattlers. It looks superficially much 



