BARTRAM-S SANDPIPER. 147 



a few odd black spots on the breast. Length yj to 8 inches; closed wing 

 5* to 5t- 



Young birds are rather smaller, lighter beneath, and have the mottlings and 

 blotchings on the inner web of the primaries in the form of minute frecklings, 

 upon greyish- white. 



According to Murdoch (U. S. Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska) the nest 

 consists of a shallow cup, lined with moss, in the drier uplands of the tundra. 

 Eggs four, very handsome; ground colour clay-buff, less commonly olivaceous or 

 cold grey, boldly spotted and blotched with neutral tint and dark brown-black; 

 length nearly i inch by about i inch. The males seem to do a little gentle 

 fighting at pairing time, and have a habit of holding one wing erect in the air 

 at the same period. 



A quiet unobtrusive bird, feeding on beetles and other insects, and getting 

 very fat in autumn ; therefore sought after on migration for the table. Very 

 silent too, apparently, only uttering at intervals a feeble " tweet," like a Sanderling. 

 The mottled, or freckled inner margin to the primary wing quills, will separate 

 it at a glance from any bird of its size and make. 



Family SCOL OP A CID/E. 



BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER. 



Bartramia longicauda, BECHST. 



A NOTHER American wanderer, of which rather less than a dozen occurrences 

 XJL have been known in Britain, and one or two on Continental Europe, all in 

 October, November, and December. It bears a considerable superficial resemblance 

 to the Little Curlew (Numenius minutusj, from Eastern Asia, the bill of the 

 latter, however, is longer and decurved, and the primaries plain. Its real affinities 

 are with the genus Totanus, however, shewn in its barred tail. 



