THE SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 459 



lower third of the tibia naked; toes long, margined, and flattened underneath; 

 outer connected with the middle toe by a large membrane; inner very slightly 

 connected to the middle toe; upper parts brownish olive-green, with a somewhat 

 metallic or bronzed lustre, and with numerous longitudinal lines, and sagittate, 

 lanceolate, and irregular spots of brownish-black, having the same lustre; line 

 over the eye, and entire under parts white, with numerous circular and oval spots 

 of brownish-black, smaller on the throat, largest on the abdomen; quills brown, with 

 a green lustre; primaries slightly tipped with white, and having a white spot 

 on their inner edges; secondaries white at their bases, and tipped with white; mid- 

 dle feathers of the tail same green as other upper parts ; outer tipped with white, 

 and with irregular bars of brownish-black; bill yellowish-green, tipped with brown; 

 feet reddish-yellow ; iris hazel. 



Young less bronzed above, and under parts white, without spots. 



Total length, seven and a half to eight inches ; wing, four and a half; tail, two ; 

 bill, one ; tarsus, rather less than one inch. 



Hob. Entire temperate North America; Oregon; Europe. 



Perhaps none of our summer residents are distributed so 

 generally and so abundantly throughout New England as 

 the species now before us. Every pond and stream of 

 water has two or three pairs breeding on its shores ; and it 

 is as abundant in the most thickly settled as in the more 

 retired and secluded localities. It arrives from the South 

 about the first week in April ; and, separating into pairs, it 

 soon commences the duties of incubation. It manifests no 

 preference for a location near the seacoast to. one in the 

 interior ; and I have found it breeding as abundantly in 

 the depths of the Maine forests as on the low sandy islands, 

 or in the marshes by our seacoast. The female, about the 

 first week in April, scratches a hollow in the sandy earth 

 by some pond, or sometimes in a grain-field or garden ; and, 

 lining it with a few pieces of straw or moss, lays four 

 eggs, which she adjusts with their small ends together 

 in the middle of the nest. These eggs are usually abruptly 

 pyriform, sometimes a little more lengthened ; and are of a 

 yellowish-buff color, marked with blotches and spots of 

 umber and sienna, thickest at their greater end, where they 

 are sometimes confluent. Occasionally, the primary color is 

 of a yellowish-drab tint, when the spots are much darker 

 than on the other shade. A great number of specimens in 

 my collection from many different localities exhibit a varia- 



