90 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Tot anus solitarius (WiLS.). 



Solitary Sandpiper. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 10). 



Bill long, straight, slender ; maxilla with deep grooves in front of nostrils ; slender 

 legs and toes ; basal webs, but that between outer and middle toes much the largest ; 

 tail rounded and barred with white and blackish ; bill blackish ; legs greenish ; 

 eyes brown. 



Adult, in spring. Upper parts dark-brown, with faint tinge of olive ; top of head, 

 and back of neck streaked with white, rest of upper plumage spotted with white ; chin, 

 lower breast, most of sides, abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; front of neck 

 white with numerous dusky streaks ; primaries blackish above, paler below ; lining 

 of wings and axillars with dusky and white bars. Old birds in the fall and the 

 young are very similar to the adult in spring but are duller in color ; the top of head, 

 hind neck and most of sides of the latter grayish-brown with few or no faint dusky 

 streaks ; chin and upper throat white ; front of neck grayish-brown and white with 

 indistinct dusky streaks. Length 8 to 9 inches ; extent 15 to 17 ; bill 1* inches or a 

 little less. 



Habitat. North America, breeding occasionally in the northern United States, 

 more commonly northward, and migrating southward as far as Brazil and Peru. 



Common spring and fall migrant. Breeds occasionally in a few 

 localities. The Solitary Sandpiper, unlike other of the sandpipers 

 occurring in this region, appears to have a special fondness for stagnant 

 pools in and about the woods. During its spring and fall passage 

 through Pennsylvania it is common, frequenting, generally, the muddy 

 borders of ponds, pools and sloughs. This species seldom arrives in 

 this state before April 25. About the first week in May you find them 

 singly, in pairs, and occasionally in flocks, numbering sometimes as 

 many as eight or even twelve individuals. In Wilson's Ornithology, 

 the following mention is made of the species : " I have made many 

 long and close searches for the nest of this bird without success. They 

 regularly breed on Pocono mountain, between Easton and Wilkes-Barre, 

 in Pennsylvania, arriving there early in May and departing in Septem- 

 ber." In Cumberland county the Messrs. Baird record it as a native. 

 Wilson also states that these birds inhabit the watery solitudes of our 

 highest mountains during the summer from Kentucky to New York, 

 but are nowhere numerous, seldom more than one or two being seen 

 together. Dr. Coues has found " young birds in July in northern Dakota, 

 about the pools of Turtle mountain." The same writer also states that "in 

 Maryland and Virginia, and in nearly correspondent latitudes in the 

 west, I have shot birds in August so young as to leave no doubt in my 

 mind that they were bred in the vicinity." I have never seen a Solitary 

 Sandpiper in Pennsylvania in June or July, but that it breeds sparingly, 

 and in several localities, there is no doubt. Mr. George B. Sennett, of 

 Erie, has several times met with this species in midsummer about streams 

 running through woods, in the vicinity of Meadville, Crawford county ; 

 and Mr. H. C. Kirkpatrick, a taxidermist residing at Meadville, says it 

 is occasionally found in that neighborhood as a native. Prof. H. Justin 



