ACTODROMAS BAIRDI : BAIRD S SANDPIPER. 21 J 



BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. 

 ACTODROMAS BAIRDI Coues. 



Chars. Adult male. Bill wholly black, small and slender, slightly 

 shorter than the head, just as long as the tarsus or as the middle 

 toe and claw, slightly expanded or lancet-shaped at the end, the 

 point acute ; grooves long, narrow, deep ; feathers on side of 

 lower mandible evidently reaching further than those on upper. 

 Upper parts brownish-black (deepest on the rump and middle 

 upper tail-coverts, and lightest on the neck behind) each feather 

 bordered and tipped with pale brownish-yellow, the tipping of 

 the scapulars broadest and nearly white, their margining broad 

 and brightest in tint, making several deep scollops toward the 

 shafts of the feathers. Only the outer series of upper tail- 

 coverts on each side varied with whitish. Middle tail-feathers 

 brownish-black, the others plain gray, with paler margins. 

 Jugulum tinged with light dull yellowish-brown, spotted and 

 streaked with illy-defined blackish markings, as are also the 

 sides under the wings. Throat and the other under parts white, 

 unmarked. Feet black, like the bill. Length, 7.25 ; extent, 15.25 ; 

 wing, 4.90 ; bill, 0.85 ; tarsus, and middle toe and claw, the same. 

 The female is entirely similar, but slightly larger. The young have 

 the upper parts wholly light brownish-ash, darker on the rump, 

 and all the feathers with a dark field, and pale or whitish edging ; 

 waves of brownish-black on the scapulars. Jugulum and breast 

 suffused with dull light reddish-brown ; the spotting small, sparse, 

 and very indistinct. Actodromas bonapartii is a little larger 

 on the average ; the bill noticeably stouter, flesh-colored at base 

 below ; the feathers on the sides of the lower mandible do not 

 extend noticeably beyond those on the upper ; the scapular 

 edging is bright chestnut ; the Jugulum is white, or barely 

 perceptibly ashy, with numerous narrow, distinct streaks ; and 

 the upper tail-coverts are white. A. bairdi is exactly interme- 

 diate in size between A. maculata and A. minutilla, and is 

 almost identical with the latter in pattern of coloration, but the 

 markings on the breast are not thick and heavy, and the edgings 

 of the scapulars not bright chestnut. The species scarcely 



