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TRINGA HIMANTOPUS— BONAP. 



LONG-LEGGED SANDPIPER. 



Tringa himantopus, Slender shank Sandpiper, Sw. & Rich. 

 Long legged Sandpiper, Audubon's Stilt Sandpiper, Douglass 



Stilt Sandpiper, Nutt. Man. 

 Long-legged Sandpiper, Tringa himantcpus, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character— -Bill about one third longer than the head, 

 slightly arched ; length of tarsi one inch and three-eighths, Adult 

 with the upper parts brownish-black, the feathers margined with 

 reddish-white ; the edges of the scapulars with semifonn markings 

 of the same ; rump and upper tail coverts white, transversely bar- 

 red with dusky ; tail light-gray, the feathers white at the base, and 

 along the middle ; primary quills and coverts brownish-black — in- 

 ner tinged with gray ; the shaft of the outer primary white ; secon- 

 daries brownish-gray, margined with reddish-white, the inner dus- 

 ky ; a broad whitish line over the eye ; loral space dusky ; auric- 

 ulars pale brownish-red ; fore part and sides of neck grayish-white, 

 tinged with red, and longitudinally streaked with dusky; the rest 

 of the lower parts pale reddish, transversely barred with dusky ; 

 the middle of the breast and the abdomen without markings; legs 

 long and slender, of a yellowish-green color. In autumn, the plu- 

 mage duller, of a more grayish appearance, and the reddish 

 markings wanting, excepting on the sides of the head, and a few 

 touches on the scapular. Length nine inches, wing five. 



On Long Island, the Long-legged Sandpiper is not abundant. 

 In all my excursions, I have only obtained two individuals, both of 

 which proved to be males. These I shot on a large meadow lying 

 in the South Bay known as " Cedar Island." The first I procured 

 in the latter part of August, 1840— the other in the early part of 

 September in the year following. In both instances they were in 

 in company with a single Pectoral Sandpiper. The first I shot 

 before it alighted, which deprived me of an opportunity of observ- 

 ing its manners ; but I was delighted at securing a specimen of a 

 species which I had long been desirous to obtain. The second 



