254 SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS 



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 breakers, 

 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 engulf 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 mauri (Cab.). WESTERN SANDPIPER. This bird 

 closely resembles the preceding, from which, in summer plumage, it differs 

 in having the upperparts conspicuously margined with rufous and the breast 

 more heavily streaked. In fall and winter plumage the differences in color- 

 ation are not so apparent, but the birds are to be distinguished at any season 

 by the size of the bill, which in the western species is always longer. 

 W., 3'80; Tar., 80; B., '85-l'20. 



Range. N. and S. A. Breeds along the Alaska coast from Kotzebue 

 Sound to mouth of Yukon; winters from N. C. to Fla., and from s. L. Calif, 

 to Venezuela; in migration occurs mainly w. of the Rocky Mts., but also 

 on the Atlantic coast as far n. as Mass., and in the West Indies. 



Washington, rare T. V., Aug.-Sept. Long Island, uncommon T. V., in 

 'all, occurring with E. pusillus. 



Eggs, 3-4, deep cinnamon buffy, sprinkled, speckled, or thickly spotted 

 \vith bright rusty brown or chestnut, the general aspect decidedly rusty, 

 i'24 x "87 (Ridgw.). Date, St. Michael's, Alaska, May 28. 



This western representative of the preceding species is found on 

 our coasts associated with its eastern relative. According to Wayne 

 (Birds So. Car.) this is the most abundant winter wader on the South 

 Carolina coast. 



248. Calidris leucophaea (Pall.). SANDERLING. Ads. in summer. 

 Feathers of upperparts with generally black centers, bordered and some- 

 times barred with pale rufous and tipped with ashy white; wings fuscous, 

 basal half of outer web of inner primaries white; wing-coverts grayish fuscous, 

 greater ones, 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 underparts pure white. Juv. Similar, 

 but upperparts without rufous, glossy black, the feathers sometimes bor- 

 dered 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; underparts pure white, with occasionally a few spots 

 on the breast. Ads. and Juv. in winter. Upperparts pale brownish gray, 

 wings as in the preceding; underparts pure white. L., 8'00; W., 5'00; Tar., 

 I'OO; B., 1-00. 



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

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

 nation with its transversely scaled tarsi. 



