JAN., 1909. BIRDS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 419 



pale buff, lined with dark brown; breast, pale buff, with arrow-shaped 

 markings of dark brown; belly, pale buff; axillars, banded with dark 

 slaty brown and white; outer primaries, white, banded with brown 

 on the inner webs. 



Adult in winter: Similar, but paler. 



Length, 11.75; wing. 6.60; tarsus, 1.90; bill, 1.20. 



A summer resident in Illinois and Wisconsin, formerly very abun- 

 dant, but now only moderately common and becoming less so every 

 year. 



The nest is placed on the ground usually in a field or pasture. The 

 eggs are 4 or 5, buff white, spotted with reddish brown, the markings 

 heavier and more numerous at the larger end. They measure 1.80 

 x 1.25 inches. 



Genus TRYNGITES Cabanis. 



129. Tryngites subruficollis (VIEILL.). 



BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 



Distr.: General North America, more common in the interior; 

 breeds from Alaska and British America northward; south in winter 

 to South America as far as Peru and Uraguay; not common in eastern 

 United States. 



Adult in summer: Upper plumage, buff, mottled with black; 

 the feathers on the back, black, edged with buff; under parts have a 

 mottled buff and white appear- 

 ance, caused by the exposed por- 

 tion of the feathers being buff, 

 narrowly tipped with white ; the First P rim ary. 



feathers are dark slate-color at base, but the slate-color is entirely 

 concealed; inner web of first primary, white, speckled with dark brown; 

 the inner primaries and secondaries, narrowly tipped with white, show- 

 ing a sub-terminal band of black; axillars, white. 



Adult in winter: Similar, but paler. 



Length, 8; wing, 5.30; tarsus, 1.25; bill, .85. 



The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is usually a rather rare migrant in 

 Illinois and Wisconsin, although in one instance at least, it was 

 abundant in one locality. 



W. W. Cook writes: "Dr. A. K. Fisher tells me that in August, 

 1874, he saw hundreds of Buff-breasted Sandpipers on the dry prairie 

 at May wood, Cook County, 111., only ten miles from Chicago and that 

 he shot- numbers of them." (Report Bird Migration Mississippi Valley, 

 1888, p. 97.) Mr. Wm. A. Bryan mentions a specimen taken near 



