PH1LOMACHUS PUONAX. 387 



11. UMTS. 



Tho Sanderlings aro among the most abundant of our shore birds and arc, in fact, the 

 most ( oiiinion of those which frequent the sandy beaches, they being almost exclusively 

 confined to sandy shores. Their pale colors render them quite conspicuous, when living 

 over the green waves or against the black sky; but when they alight on the sand, they cor- 

 respond so nearly with the ground, that when they are quiet, it is almost impossible to dis- 

 tinguish them a short distance away. It is seldom, however, that they remain inactive, 

 for they are lively birds and are constantly chasing the waves out, in search of food left by 

 that great store house of Nature, the sea. Then when the huge billows come rushing in 

 and expend their fury on the shelving beach, in a long, wide sheet of seething foam, the 

 little Sanderlings run so quickly before the advancing water, that the spray seldom wets 

 their delicate feathers. After a storm, hundreds of these birds may be seen thus engaged, 

 spreading out in long lines in order that they may not interfere with one another, and many 

 lonely reaches of sea-board, from Maine to Florida, are enlivened by the presence of these 

 true children of the sand. The Sanderlings arrive in New England in August, remain un- 

 til quite late, then gradually move southward. They are abundant from the Carolinas to 

 Key West during winter but migrate northward in May. 



GENUS VII. PHILOMACHUS. THE RUFFS. 



(IKN. Cn. Bill, about as long as head, straight and slightly expanded at lip. Hind toe, present. Feathers of neck, 

 yreatly elonyated. 



PHILOMACHTJS PUONAX. 



Huff. 

 Philumachus pugnax GRAY, List; 1841. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. Cn. Form, robust. Size, large. Bill, straight, about as long as head, slender, and widened at tip. Legs, stout. 

 Tucs, without luis;\l membrane. Tip of closed wing, reaching to end of tail. Tertiaries, nearly as long as primaries. 



COLOR. Adult. Above, ashy, darkest on rump, palest on head, mottled, sprinkled, and banded irregularly, with ru- 

 fous and dark-brown. Outer upper tail coverts, white. Under parts white, molded to a greater or letw extent with black. 

 Youny. Head and neck all around, ashy, finely streaked with dusky. Remainder of up|r parts, dark-brown, each feath- 

 er, exei-ptiiig primaries, broadly edged with ashy and yellowish-rufous. Upper tail coverts, white, with a central line of 

 dark-lirown. Tail, ashy-brown, tipped with white. Remainder of under parts, ashy-white, darkest across breast. Bill, 

 dark-brown, lighter at base, iris, brown, legs, greenish-yellow, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



This nan exceedingly difficult bird to describe as the colors, especially in the adult stage, are extremely variable. Thus 

 the elongated neck feathers vary from nearly white, slightly marked with black, to black, sprinkled with white, and the 

 other colors are equally changeable. The young are more uniform. Readdy known by the large size, straight bill, stout 

 leu r s :nd white upper tail covert-*, centrally, lined with dark-brown. Distributed, in summer, throughout Northern Eu- 

 rope, llure in Eastern North America. 



ni.MKNSIoNS. 



Average measurements. Length, 10'50; stretch, 21'50; wing, 6'H2; taiI,2-62; bill, T55; tarsus, 1'85. Longest speci- 

 men, 11-00; greatest extent of wing, 22-00; longest wing, 7 J*S; tail, 2-75; bill, 1'75; tarsus, 2'00. Shortest specimen, 10 00; 

 smallest extent of wing, Sl'OO; shortest wing, 6'40: tail, 2'50; bill, 1'40; tarsus, 1'75. 



DIvSCRtl'TION OF NESTS AND E(i<iS. 



K,';/s, J>la 1 on the ground in n slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc., three or four in nuuilwr, decidti!- 



ly ].yril<.r:n i" shapi-, varying from yellowish-ash to greenish in color, spotted and blotched irregularly, and rat!n-r c-'>ar-- 

 ly, with hniwn of varying sliaclc-. Dimension* from Max 1 6<> to l'25x 1'bO. 



