162 SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



streaked, tinted with buffy. Winter plumage. Opper parts brownish gray, 

 with darker shaft streaks ; upper tail-coverts darker; under parts white, some- 

 times with faint streaks on the breast L., 6-30 ; W., 3'75 ; Tar., -75 ; B., -65--80. 



Remarks. The small size of this and the next species prevents their be- 

 ing confused with any other except Tringa minutilla, from which they may 

 always be known by their partially webbed toes. 



Range. Eastern North America ; breeds in the arctic regions, and winters 

 from the Gulf States southward through Brazil. 



Washington, rare T. V., May ; Aug. to Oct. Long Island, abundant T. V., 

 May ; July through Sept. Sing Sing, common T. V. in fall, Aug. 14 to Oct. 

 20. Cambridge, very common in Aug. and Sept. 



Eggs, three to four, pale, dull grayish buff, sprinkled, speckled, or spotted 

 with dark brown and purplish gray, 1-21 x -85 (Eidgw.). 



The thought of these little Sandpipers always creates a mental pic- 

 ture of a long stretch of dazzling beach with its ever-changing surf- 

 line. I hear the oft-repeated booming of the rolling, tumbling break- 

 ers, and in the distance see a group of tiny forms hurrying to and fro 

 over the sand smoothed by the frothy waves. With what nimble grace- 

 fulness they follow the receding waves, searching for treasures cast up 

 by the sea ! What contentment and good-fellowship are expressed by 

 their cheery, conversational twitterings ! Up and down the beach they 

 run, now advancing, now retreating, sometimes, in their eagerness, ven- 

 turing too far, when the waters threaten to ingulf them, and in momen- 

 tary confusion they take wing and hover back to a place of safety. 

 Suddenly, as though at a signal, they are off ; a compact flock moving 

 as one bird, twisting and turning to right and left, now gleaming white 

 as the sun strikes their snowy bodies, now dark again like a wisp of 

 sunless cloud flying before the wind. 



247. Ereunetes occidentalis Laicr. WESTERN SEMIPALMATED 

 SANDPIPER. This bird closely resembles the preceding, from which, in sum- 

 mer plumage, it differs in having the upper parts conspicuously margined 

 with rufous and the breast more heavily streaked. In fall and winter plum- 

 age the differences in coloration are not so apparent, but the birds are to be 

 distinguished at any season by the size of the bill, which in the western spe- 

 cies always averages longer. W., 3-80 ; Tar., 80 ; B., -85-1-20. 



Range. Western North America; breeds in the arctic regions, and win- 

 ters from the Gulf States to South America ; occasional on the Atlantic coast 



Long Island, uncommon T. V., occurring with /;'. fiHxitli/x. 



Eggs, three to four, deep cinnamon buffy, sprinkled, speckled, or thickly 

 spotted with bright rusty brown or chestnut, the general aspect <lcri,li(lly 

 rusty, 1-24 x -87 (Ridgw.). 



This western representative of the preceding species is sometimes 

 found on our coasts associated with its eastern relative. In Florida, 

 particularly on the Gulf coast, it occurs in numbers during the winter. 



