BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 85 



Common spring and fall migrant, arriving, generally, in April. These 

 birds, after rearing their young in the far north, return to their winter 

 resorts and again make their appearance here in September, and they 

 are often found with us in October and the early part of November. 

 The Pectoral Sandpiper is found frequently in small flocks (sometimes 

 in large flocks) or singly, and often in company with other species, par- 

 ticularly the Wilson's Snipe. The Grass-snipe as this species is best 

 known to gunners, frequents the same localities as the Wilson's Snipe, 

 but it is of tener seen about low, wet, grassy flats in open fields and mea- 

 dows than about the shores of streams and ponds. 



Tringa fuscicollis VIEILL. 



White-rumped Sandpiper. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length about 1\ inches ; extent about 15; bill black at end, much lighter at base 

 of lower mandible ; iris brown ; bill about an inch long. This bird although smaller 

 is very similar to the Pectoral Sandpiper, from which it can be distinguished by the 

 (usually) pure white upper tail-coverts ; dusky streaks on foreneck and breast, chin 

 and throat with small dusky specks. . 



Habitat. Eastern province of North America, breeding in the high north. In 

 winter, the West Indies, Central and South America, south to Falkland Islands. 

 Occasional in Europe. 



Very rare spring and fall migrant in Pennsylvania. One of these 

 sandpipers was taken in Berks county, near Beading, by Mr. D. Frank 

 Keller. I have seen two of these birds in the possession of Mr. C. D. 

 Wood, which were captured, he said, along the Schuylkill, near Phil- 

 adelphia. I have never met with the species in Pennsylvania. 



Tringa minutilla VIEILL. 



Least Sandpiper ; Peep. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 78). 



Smallest of all the sandpipers ; length about 5| inches ; extent about 10| ; bill, 

 slender, straight and about f of an inch long. 



Adult spring dress. Upper parts brownish-black, feathers with dark centers, 

 edged with bright reddish or chestnut, and more or less tipped with white ; fore- 

 neck and breast pale brownish-white with numerous dusky streaks ; rest of under 

 parts white. The adults and young in fall are quite similar, but with more white on 

 chin and upper throat, and foreneck and breast is light-grayish with a few indistinct 

 dusky streaks. This species can easily be distinguished from Semipalmated Sand- 

 piper by not only its smaller size, but by the fact that its long slender front toes have 

 no basal webs as m the Semipalmated. 



Habitat. The whole of North and South America, breeding north of the United 

 States. Accidental in Europe. 



The Least Sandpiper is a common spring and fall migrant in Penn- 

 sylvania. At Erie bay iij is very abundant, being usually seen in large 

 flocks, in company with the Semipalmated Sandpiper, and both species 



