136 WADING BIRDS. 



LEAST SANDPIPER. 



PEEP, 



Tringa minutilla. 



Char. Upper parts mottled black, rufous, and dull white, darker on 

 the rump ; a light stripe over the eyes ; under parts white, spotted with 

 dusky; breast and sides washed with ashy brown; toes without web. 

 The smallest of the Sandpipers. Length 5>^ to 6 inches. 



A'est. Usually on a dry hill bordering a lake or pond, but sometimes 

 amid moss close by the sea-shore, — a slight depression, scantily lined 

 with grass and leaves. 



Eggs. 4; buff or drab thickly marked with brown and lilac; 1.15 X 

 0.85. 



This small and nearly resident species may be considered as 

 the most common and abundant in America, inhabiting the 

 shores and marshes of the whole continent both to the north 

 and south of the equator, retiring probably with the incle- 

 mency of the season, indifferently, from either frigid circle 

 towards the warmer and more hospitable regions within the 

 tropics. These birds are consequently seen, spring and 

 autumn, in all the markets of the Union as well as in those 

 of the West Indies, Vera Cruz, and in the interior as far as 

 Mexico. Captain Cook also found them on the opposite side 

 of the continent, frequenting the shores of Nootka Sound. 

 The great mass of their pigmy host retire to breed within the 

 desolate lands of the Arctic circle, where, about the 20th of 

 May, or as soon as the snow begins to melt and the rigors of 

 the long and nocturnal winter relax, they are again seen to 

 return to the shores and the swampy borders of their native 

 lakes in the inclement parallel of 66 degrees. Though shy and 

 quailing on their first arrival, with many other aerial passen- 

 gers of like habits, they contribute to give an air of life and 

 activity to these most dreary, otherwise desolate and inhospi- 

 table regions of the earth. Endowed with different wants and 

 predilections from the preceding hosts, whose general livery 

 they wear, they never seemingly diverge in their passage so 

 far to the eastward as to visit Greenland and the contiguous 



