460 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



tion of size from 1.40 by 1 iiicli to 1.26 by .95 inch. I cau 

 see no marked peculiarity in any series of specimens, except- 

 ing that those collected in the interior of Maine average 

 a little larger than those from the seacoast. 



The flight of the Spotted Sandpiper is generally low, its 

 wings being kept bent at an angle beneath its body. It has 

 a peculiar note, like peet-weet, peet-weet, easily recognized. 



ACTITURUS, Bonaparte. 



Actiturus, Bonaparte, Saggio, etc., (1831). (Type Tnnga Bartramia, Wil- 

 son.) 



Upper mandible grooved laterally to within the terminal fourth, the lower not 

 quite so far; culmen concave to near the tip, where it is slight]}' decurved; gonys 

 straight; mouth deeply cleft, almost as far back as the anterior cauthus; the culmen 

 onlj' about two-thirds the commissure, shorter than the head or tarsus, and about 

 equal to middle toe without claw; feathers extending much further forward on the 

 upper jaw than on the lower, although those of chin reach nearly to end of nostrils; 

 tarsus one and a half times middle toe and claw; the bare part of tibia not quite 

 equal to the middle toe above; outer toe united at base as far as tirst joint; web of 

 inner toe very basal ; tail long, graduated, more than half the wings. 



ACTITURUS B AETRAMIUS. — Bonaparte. 



The Upland Plover ; Bartram's Sandpiper ; Field Plover. 



Tringa Bartramia, Wilson. Am. Orn., VII. (1813) 63. Aud. Birds Amer., V. 

 (1842) 248. 



Tolanus Bartramius, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 24. 

 Tringa (Euliga) Bartramia, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 168. 



Description. 



Bill about as long as the head, rather wide and flattened at base, curved at the 

 tip; nostril with a large membrane; nasal groove long; wing long; tail long for this 

 group; legs moderate or rather long; lower half of the tibia nalved; toes moderate, 

 the outer and middle toe united by a membrane, inner and middle free to the base, 

 hind toe small ; general color of the upper parts brownisli-black, with a greenish lus- 

 tre, and witli the leatliers edged with ashj^-white and yellowish, the latter especially 

 on the wing coverts; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail coverts, brownish- 

 black; lateral coverts of the tail yellowish-white, with arrow-heads and irregular 

 spots of black ; wide stripe over the eye, and entire under parts very pale yellowish- 

 white, nearly pure-white on the abdomen ; neck before with numerous longitudinal 

 lines of brownish-black ; breast and sides with waved and pointed transverse narrow 

 bands of the same ; axillary feathers and under wing coverts pure-white, with nume- 

 rous nearly regular transverse narrow bands of black; quills brownish-black, with 

 numerous ti ansverse bands of white on their inner webs, very conspicuous oi: the 

 under surface of the wing; shaft of first primary white; middle feathers of the tail 



