SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 163 



248. Calidris arenaria (Linn.). SANDERLING; SURF SNIPE. Ad. 

 in summer. Feathers of the upper parts with generally black centers, bor- 

 dered and sometimes barred with pale rufous and tipped with ashy white ; 

 wings fuscous, the basal half of the outer web of the inner primaries white ; 

 wing-coverts grayish fuscous, the greater one broadly tipped with white ; tail 

 brownish gray, narrowly margined with white; throat and upper breast 

 washed with pale rufous and spotted with blackish ; rest of the under parts 

 pure white. Fall plumage. Similar, but upper parts without rufous, glossy 

 black, the feathers sometimes bordered with white, but generally with two 

 white spots at their tips separated by the black of the central part of the 

 feather; nape grayish white, lightly streaked with blackish; under parts 

 pure white, with occasionally a few spots on the breast. Winter plumage. 

 Upper parts pale brownish gray, wings as in the preceding ; under parts pure 

 white. L., 8-00 ; W., 5-00 ; Tar., 1-00 ; B., 1-00. 



Remarks. The Sanderling is the only one of our Snipes or Sandpipers 

 having three toes, and it may always be known by this character in combi- 

 nation with its booted or transversely scaled tarsi. 



Range. " Nearly cosmopolitan, breeding in arctic and subarctic regions ; 

 migrating, in America, south to Chili and Patagonia" (A. O. U.). 



Washington, casual T. V., two records. Long Island, common T. V., Mch. 

 15 through May ; Aug. 1 through Sept. Sing Sing, tolerably common T. V., 

 to June 5; Sept. 9 to Oct. 5. Cambridge, casual, one instance, Sept. 



Eggs, three to four, light olive-brown, finely spotted or speckled with 

 darker, the markings larger and more blended on the larger end, 1*41 x '91 

 (Ridgw.). 



This is a true beach bird, and is usually found on shores washed 

 by the sea. It frequently associates with the Semipalmated Sandpiper 

 or Oxeye, which it resembles in habits, but its larger size and lighter 

 colors distinguish it from that species. 



249. Limosa fedoa (Linn.). MARBLED GODWIT; BROWN MARLIN. 

 Ad. Upper parts black, the head and neck streaked with buffy, the back 

 barred or the feathers spotted on the sides and sometimes tipped with buffy 

 or ochraceous-buff; inner web of the outer primaries and both webs of the 

 inner ones ochraceous-buff or pale buffy, speckled with black ; tail ochraceous- 

 buff barred with black ; throat white, rest of the under parts pale buffy, spotted 

 or barred with black ; bill curved slightly upward, yellowish at the base, 

 black at the end. Im. Similar, but the under parts with few or no bars except 

 on the flanks and under tail-coverts. L., 18-00 : W., 8'75 ; Tar., 2-75 ; B., 4-00. 



Range. North America, breeding chiefly in the interior, from western 

 Minnesota, and rarely Iowa and Nebraska, northward, and migrating south- 

 ward to Central America and Cuba ; rare on the Atlantic coast. 



Long Island, rare T. V., Aug. and Sept. 



Eggs, three to four, clay-color or brownish ashy, blotched, spotted, and 

 scrawled with grayish brown, 2-15 x 1-60. 



Colonel Goss writes that this species " inhabits the salt- and fresh- 

 water shores, marshes, and moist ground upon the prairies. It feeds 



