BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA : BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. 245 



BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER; UPLAND 

 PLOVER. 



BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA (Bechst.) Coues. 



Chars. Bill shorter than head, about equal to middle toe and claw, 

 straight ; culmen a little concave, upper mandible grooved for 

 three-fourths its length, gape wide and deep, reaching below 

 eyes. Tail more than half as long as wing, graduated. Tibia 

 denuded for nearly the length of the middle toe. Tarsi much 

 longer than middle toe, scutellate before and behind. Adult: 

 Above blackish, intimately varied with white or tawny edges of 

 the feathers, the dark color prevailing on the crown and back, the 

 light on the head, neck, and wings ; on the scapulars and long 

 inner secondaries, the black resolved in regular angular bars on 

 a greenish-brown field. Rump and most upper tail-coverts 

 brownish-black, a few of the longer coverts barred to correspond 

 with the tail. Tail-feathers mostly orange-brown, with numerous 

 dark bars and spots and one broad black subterminal band, and 

 white tips. Under parts dull soiled whitish, or tawny-white, the 

 jugulum streaked with blackish, the sides with sharp, black 

 arrow-heads ; axillars and lining of wings white, barred with 

 black. Bill yellow, with black ridge and tip ; feet clay-colored, 

 drying darker; iris dark-brown. Length, 11.75-12.75; extent, 

 22.09; wing, 6.25-7.00 ; tail about 3.50; tarsus, 1.75; bill, i.oo- 

 1.25 ; middle toe and claw the same. 



An elegant species, commonly resident in New Eng- 

 land during the summer, and especially abundant in 

 spring and fall. It arrives about the ist of May, and 

 may be found until October, chiefly in upland fields and 

 meadows ; being one of those waders that appears to be 

 quite independent of the vicinity of water, and well 

 deserving its name of " upland " plover. It is of course 

 not a " plover " at all, but a Sandpiper ; its erroneous 

 appellation coming probably from the shortness of its 



