SHORE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



59 



SUBGENUS RHYACOPHILUS KAUP 



TOTANUS SOLITARIUS (Wils.). 

 Solitary Sandpiper. 



Totanus solitarius. 



Adult in summer: Top of head and back, and 

 upper tail coverts, bronzy green, dotted with 

 white; under parts, white; the breast, thickly 

 streaked and dotted brown; bill, greenish brown 

 (in life), dusky, terminally; axillars, white, 

 heavily barred with smoky black. 



Adult in winter: Upper parts, including upper 

 tail coverts, olive brown, showing a faint, green- 

 ish gloss when held in the light, the feathers 

 faintly dotted with dull white; throat, white; 

 breast, streaked with brown ; rest of under parts, 

 white ; axillars, heavily barred. 



Length, 8.50; wing, 5.30; tarsus, 1.20; bill, 

 1.30. 



This species ranges from the sub-arctic regions, southward, to South 

 America. It occurs with us during the migrations, and breeds from Pennsyl- 

 vania and Illinois northward. It is usually observed about inland ponds and 

 rivers, rarely frequenting the salt marshes. The eggs, which are described 

 from a single specimen taken by Jenness Richardson, in Vermont, and described 

 by Dr. Brewer, are light drab with small rounded brown markings, having a 

 few faint purplish marks on the larger end. 



The European Green Sandpiper, T. ochropus (Linn.), has been recorded 

 from Nova Scotia. It somewhat resembles T. solitarius, but has the upper 

 tail coverts white. 



