200 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



1833, iii. 529, tab. 278 ; id. Synopsis 1839, 236 ; id. Birds Amer. 1842, v. 

 275. Macgillivray, Man. Brit. Orn. 1842, ii. 72. Giraud, Birds L. I. 1844, 

 241. Dekay, N. Y. F. 1844, 241, tab. 84, fig. 191. Degland, Ornith. Europ. 

 1849, ii. 231. Latnbeye, Aves Cubae, 1850, 98. Woodhouse, Sitgreave's 

 Exped. 1853, 100. Meyer, Brit. Birds, 1857, v. 96. 



Pelidna Schinzii, Bonaparte, Comp. List. 1838, 50 ; id. Cat. Met. 1842, 60. 

 Tringa fionapartei, Schlegel, Rev. Grit. Ois. Eur. 1844, 89. 

 Tringa (Actodromas) Bonapartei, Cassin, Gen. Rep. 1858, 722. 



Sp. char. Bill quite stout, moderately long, equal to the head or tarsus, the 

 tip somewhat expanded. Grooves on both mandibles long and deep. Feathers 

 extending on the lower mandible but little beyond those on the upper. Wings 

 long, pointed, first primary decidedly longest ; tertials long, narrow and flowing. 

 Tail moderate, quite deeply doubly ernarginate, the central feathers somewhat 

 pointed and considerably projecting. Tarsus rather longer than the middle toe. 

 Toes long, slender and slightly margined. Adult in breeding plumage. Crown 

 and upper parts generally light brownish ash, each feather with a large field of 

 dusky towards its end, and on the crown and middle of the back edged with 

 light yellowish red,- deepening into bright sienna on the scapulars. Lesser 

 wing coverts dark brownish ash, fading into light ashy on the edges, and with 

 shaft lines of blackish. Secondaries and greater coverts light greyish ash, 

 edged and tipped with white. Tertials very dark brownish ash, fading into 

 light ashy on the edges. Primaries deep dusky, their shafts white in the cen- 

 tral portions, and the innermost edged with white. Rump brownish black. 

 Upper tail coverts white, their outer series with sagittate spots of dusky. Cen- 

 tral tail feathers deep brownish black, the rest very light greyish ash, broadly 

 edged and tipped with white. Jugulum and breast with a scarcely appreciable 

 wash of very light ashy, with very numerous, distinct, linear-oblong streaks of 

 dusky brown ; these extend as minute dots nearly or quite to the bill, and as 

 narrow shaft lines, along the sides to the vent. Rest of under parts white, im- 

 maculate. Lower mandible flesh colored for half its length ; rest of bill, with 

 the legs and feet, black. Young in August. Upper parts a nearly uniform dark 

 ash, the black of the adults showing at intervals, but principally on the scapu- 

 lars, where also the reddish margins of the feathers are apparent. Jugulum 

 and sides under the wings with an ashy suffusion, more conspicuous than in the 

 adult, but much more restricted, and the streaks more obsolete and indistinct. 

 Central pair of upper tail coverts usually dusky. Other parts as in the adult. 



Length 7-5, extent 15, wing 4-8 inches. Bill, tarsus and middle toe rather 

 less than one inch. 



Habitat. North America, east of the Rocky Mountains. Europe. 



The preceding diagnosis would .characterize the species sufficiently well for 

 all ordinary purposes ; but in view of the great confusion which exists among 

 authors, most of whom refer it to a very different bird, a somewhat extended 

 account of its markings and variations appears necessary. A very perfect male, 

 in breeding plumage, from Great Slave Lake, and an immature specimen of the 

 same sex, obtained in Labrador during the month of July, are considered as 

 respectively representing the adult and young, and taken as standards of com- 

 parison. 



Adult. The bill, which is quite stout, and somewhat expanded at the tip, 

 rather less than an^nch in length, and about equal to the head or tarsus. It 

 is pretty constant, the difference in length between the longest and shortest 

 billed specimens before me not exceeding the tenth of an inch. The lower 

 mandible is flesh-colored for nearly half its length. The feathers extend on the 

 side of the lower mandible but little if any beyond those on the upper, and their 

 encroachment between the rami is not great. There is a white stripe over the 

 eye, and a dusky one between the eye and nostrils, but both are very illy de- 

 fined. The general color of the upper parts is a light brownish ash ; but on 

 the back the feathers have such large blackish central fields, and so conspicu- 



[July, 



