TKJNGOWF.S MACULAK1US. 3!)1 



(iENTS X. TRINGOIDES. TIIK TILTING SANDIMPKKS. 



GKN. C'n. Bill, about as /// as head, slender, not curved nor expan-tedaltip. Gape, not untie. Head, not lari/f, and 

 neck, moderate. Marginal indentations, two. 



The sternum is narrow, alxnikas wide as height of keel which does not exceed tlic length of eoracoids. Tin- two mar- 

 ginal indentations are wide and deep. Lejjs, short and there U a prominent membrane between tlie uuternnd middle toes. 

 Tail, moderate. Other characters do not differ .strikingly from those given under the two preceding genera. Sexes, sim- 

 ilar. There is but one species within our limits. 



TEINGOIDES MACULAKIUS. 

 Spotted Sandpiper. 



Tringoides mandarins GRAY, List; 1849. 



DESCRIPTION. 

 Si 1 . Cn. Form, rather slender. Size, medium. Tongue, long, thin, not horny, narrowing gradually to tip which is 



pointed. 



COU>R. Atlu/t. Almve, dark greenish-brown, having a greenish gloas, handed and s|>otted, excepting on primaries, 

 with dark-brown, liase and tips ot 'secondaries, inner primaries, tips of greater wing coverts, line from bill ovrr e\e, and 

 under parts, white, the latter marked everywhere with rounded spots of greenish-brown. Tail, tipped with whiteand hand- 

 ed on outer feathers with dark-brown. 



Youny. Ashy-brown above, with every feather edged with white, preceded, excepting on primaries, by abandofdark- 

 brwn. Beneath, white, tinged with ashy across breast. 



Nestlinys. Above, ashy, marked with black, and beneath, white. Bill, brown, yellow at base, iris, brown, and legs, 

 greenish-yellow, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Rcailily known by the presence of the membrane between the outer and middle toes, straight bill, the ]>cculiar ashy 

 color above, glossed with greenish, and round spotting* below. Distributed, in summer, from the Carolinas, northward; 

 wintering from this point, southward. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 7'60; stretch, 13'35; wing, 4'25; tail, 'J (). r >; 

 bill, 1OO; tarsus, -'J2. Longest specimen, 8-(X); greatest extent of wing, 13'75; longest wing, 4MO; tail, 2 30; bill, I- 10; tar- 

 sus, TOO. Shortest specimen, 7'40; smallest extent of wing, IS'OO; shortest wing, 4'1D; tail, I 80; bill, ''JO; tarsus, -85. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Kfjijs, placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc., three or four in number, decided- 

 ly pyriforrn in shape, varying from creamy to buff in color, spotted, blotched, and dotted, with reddish-brown of varying 

 shades, with the usual shell markings of lilac. Dimensions from -UOx 1'30 to '95x 1'40. 



HABITS. 



There are few who do not recognize the peculiar pect-wect of the spotted Sandpipers, 

 as they skim about the fields with their peculiar flight, or stand on some stone in the brook, 

 teetering briskly up and down, as they examine the intruder. I have always found them 

 common wherever I have been, whether on the sandy beaches at the foot of the high (-lifts 

 on the Magdalen Islands, in the fields of New England, along the water courses of the Mid- 

 dle and Southern States, or on the partly submerged islands which lie in the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, and they always appear as much at home when running along the sandy shores of the 

 far North, or jumping from root to root of the mangroves in the South, as they do in the 

 cultivated fields of Massachusetts. The Spotted Sandpipers are common during winter, 

 from the Carolinas to Key West, but migrate northward in spring, arriving in Massachu- 

 setts about the first of May. They breed early in June, often placing the nest on the mar- 

 gin of a grain field, in a potato patch or strawberry bed. On Grand Mt-nan, where (hey 

 are very numerous, they nest in the grassy fields near pools, and along the sen coast ,,!' 

 Massachusetts, they build in the beach grans, just above high watermark. The females .sit 



