ACTODROMAS BONAPARTII I BONAPARTE S SANDPIPER. 221 



like the common Snipe. Sometimes, gaming a consider- 

 able elevation, they circle for several minutes in silence 

 overhead, flying with great velocity, perhaps to pitch 

 down again nearly perpendicularly upon the same spot 

 they sprang from. The southward migration begins in 

 August, and is usually completed by the following 

 month. 



BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER; WHITE- 

 RUMPED SANDPIPER. 



ACTODROMAS BONAPARTII (Schl.) Cones. 



Chars. In form like the other species of Actodromas. Size inter- 

 mediate between A. maculata and A. minutilla, about the 

 same as in A.bairdi; length, 7.50; extent, 15.00; wing, 4.75; 

 bill, tarsus, and middle toe with claw rather less than i.oo. Up- 

 per tail-coverts white ; a strong character, peculiar to this species 

 in the genus. Upper parts generally, including the crown, light 

 brownish-ash, each feather with a large field of dusky toward the 

 end, and on the crown and middle of the back edged with light 

 yellowish-red, deepening into sienna-red on the scapulars. Pri- 

 maries dusky, their shafts white centrally. Rump brownish-black. 

 Central tail-feathers the same, the lateral ones grayish-ash, 

 edged and tipped with white. Under parts white, the jugulum 

 and breast with a faint ashy wash, and numerous linear oblong 

 spots of dusky. Young in August chiefly ashy on the upper 

 parts, the markings of the jugulum less distinct. 



This is another of New England's abundant Sand- 

 pipers, flocking along the beaches during the migrations, 

 which occur at the same seasons as those of the other 

 species. It breeds abundantly in Labrador and other 

 northern regions. 



