SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 89 



dark olive, streaked with white ; hack, scapulars, and 

 rump, dark hrown olive, each feather marked along 

 the edges with small round spots of white; wings, 

 plain, and of a darker tint ; under tail-covert, spotted 

 with black; tail, slightly rounded, the five exterior 

 feathers on each side, white, broadly barred with black ; 

 the two middle ones, as well as their coverts, plain 

 olive ; legs, long, slender, and of a dusky green. Male 

 and female alike in colour. 



231. TOTAXUS MACULARIUS, TEMMINCK. 



TRIXGA 31ACULARIA, WILSON SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 



WILSON, PLATE LIX. FIG. I EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 



THIS very common species arrives in Pennsylvania 

 about the 20th of April, making its first appearance 

 along the shores of our large rivers, and, as the season 

 advances, tracing the courses of our creeks and streams 

 towards the interior. Along the rivers Schuylkill and 

 Delaware, and their tributary waters, they are in great 

 abundance during the summer. This species is as 

 remarkable for perpetually wagging the tail, as some 

 others are for nodding the head ; for, whether running 

 on the ground, or on the fences, along the rails, or in 

 the water, this motion seems continual ; even the 

 young, as soon as they are freed from the shell, run 

 about constantly wagging the tail. About the middle 

 of May, they resort to the adjoining corn fields to breed, 

 where I have frequently found and examined their 

 nests. One of these now before me, and which was 

 built at the root of a hill of Indian corn, on high ground, 

 is composed wholly of short pieces of dry straw. The 

 .eggs are four, of a pale clay or cream colour, marked 

 with large irregular spots of black, and more thinly 

 with others of a paler tint. They are large, in proportion 

 to the size of the bird, measuring an inch and a quarter 

 in length, very thick at the great end, and tapering 

 suddenly to tne other. The young run about with 

 wonderful speed, as soon as they leave the shell, and 



