182 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



Trynga tridactyla, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-As. 1811, ii. 198. 



Charadrius calidris, Linnzeus, Syst. Nat. 1766, i. 255. Wilson, Am. Orn. 1813, 



vii. 68, tab. lix. fig. 4; id. Ord. Ed. 1829, iii. 167; id. Brew. Ed. 1840, 503. 

 Charadrius rubidus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1788, i. 688. Wilson, Am. Orn. 1813, 



vii. 129, tab. Ixiii. fig. 3; id. Ord. Ed. 1829, iii. 170; id. Brewer. Ed. 1840, 



541. 



Arenaria vulgaris t Leisler, (fide G. R. Gray.) 

 Arenaria calidris, Meyer, (fide G. R. Gray.) Degland, Ornith. Europ. 1849, ii. 



240. Lambeye, Av. Cubal. 1850, 100. 

 Calidris arenaria, llliger, Prod. 1811, 249. Temminck, Manual, ii. 524. Lich- 



tenstein, Verz. 1823, 72. Bonaparte, Obs. Wilson, 1825, v. 105. Swainson, 



F. B. A. 1831, ii. 366. Nuttall, Manual, 1834, 4. Jenyns, Manual, 1835, 



183. Schinz. Eur. Faun. 1840, i. 298. Bonaparte, Comp. List. 1838,50; id. 



Catal. Metod. 1842, 61. Macgillivray, Man. Brit. Orn. 1842, 65. Giraud, 



Birds L. I. 1844, 243. Gray, Genera, 1849. iii. 581. Bonaparte, Revue Grit. 



1850, 184. Cassin, U. S. Ast. Exp. 1855, ii. 194; id. Gen. Rep. 1858, 723. 



Nilsson, Scand. Faun. 1858, ii. 255. Cooper et Suckley, Nat. Hist. Wash. 



Terr. 1860, 241. 



Calidris tringoides, Vieillot, Gal. Ois. 1834, ii. 95, tab. ccxxxiv. 

 Calidris Americana, Brehm, Vog. Deut. 1831, 675, (fide Gen. Rep.) 



Sp. Char. Bill short, stout, straight, the tip much thickened and expauded. 

 Upper mandible widely, lower narrowly but distinctly, grooved. First primary 

 decidedly longest. Tail doubly emarginate, the central feathers pointed and 

 much projecting. Legs troderate, toes very short and widely margined. Adult 

 in spring. Entire upper parts and neck all round, variegated with black, light 

 ashy and bright reddish ; on the back and scapulars each feather having a central 

 black field, and being broadly margined and tipped with ashy or reddish. 

 Under parts white, immaculate. Outer webs and tips of primaries deep 

 brownish black, inner light ashy. A white spot at base of inner primaries. 

 Secondaries mostly pure white; the outer vanes and part of inner on the latter 

 half dusky. Greater coverts dusky, broadly tipped and narrowly edged with 

 pure white. Rump, upper tail coverts and central tail feathers dusky, tipped 

 and narrowly edged with ashy white ; lateral tail feathers very light ash, nearly 

 white. Legs and feet black. Young in autumn. No traces of the reddish. 

 Upper parts very light ash, each feather fading into white on the edges, and 

 with a narrow shaft line of dusky. Entire under parts pure white. Scapulars 

 dusky, edged with whitish. Other parts as in the adult. 



Length 7-5 to 8, extent 15 to 16; wing 4-9, tail 2-25. Bill about 1 inch, 

 tarsus rather less; middle toe -75. 



Habitat. Temperate North America; South America ; Europe. 



In the above diagnosis I have given the breeding plumage and that of the 

 young the first autumn ; but a more usual winter dress differs from either. 

 There are traces of the reddish on the upper parts generally and on the breast. 

 Each feather above is brownish-black, regularly indented and tipped with ashy 

 white, thus giving to the upper parts the appearance of being evenly mottled. 

 There is a buff tinge on the breast, and also on the tips of the rump feathers. 

 The bend of the wing is nearly as dark as in the adult. At all times the under 

 parts of the bird from the jugulum are pure white. 



^As stated in the remarks upon the genus, the peculiarities of the form of this 

 bird huve caused it to be considered as a Charadrius by some of the older 

 authors. Linnaeus erred so much as to refer it to that genus in one state of 

 plumage, and to classify it as a Sandpiper in another. Wilson, though retain- 

 ing the species in Charadrius, remarks upon its evident affinity to the latter 

 group. The Charadrius rubidus of Gmelin and Wilson represents the adult- 

 breeding plumage, and the C. calidris of the same authors, the young bird. But 

 the peculiarities of the bird are so great that it was very early removed from 



[July, 



