OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 121 



Tail, pale gray, with greenish reflection. Sides of the neck and entire under- 

 parts uniform deep brownish-red ; under tail-coverts barred with dusky ; 

 axillars and under wing-coverts white ; bill and feet greenish-black. 



Hab. Old World in general ; occasional in Eastern North America. 



So far as at present known, the Curlew Sandpiper is only a 

 straggler on the American continent, about ten or a dozen 

 being all the recorded captures ; it is quite a common British 

 species, and like others peculiar to those eastern lands, may 

 occasionally be wafted westward against its inclinations, but no 

 nest of the species has yet been found on this side of the 

 Atlantic. 



In 1867, the Board of Arts of Western Canada prepared a. 

 " catalogue of birds observed in the country," in connection 

 with the collection which, during that year, was sent to the 

 Paris exhibition. The Curlew Sandpiper is named in the 

 catalogue, but no specimen was available for the collection. I 

 have mentioned it here, chiefly with the view of placing the 

 technical description in the hands of those interested, so that 

 they may be able to identify the species should they at any 

 time fall in with it. 



Genus EREUNETES Illiger. 



97. EREUNETES PUSILLUS (Linn.). 246. 



Semipalmated Sandpiper. 



Adult in summer : above variegated with black, bay and ashy or white, 

 each feather with a black field, reddish edge and whitish tip ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts, except the lateral ones, blackish ; tail feathers ashy-gray, 

 the central darker ; primaries dusky, the shaft of the first white ; a dusky line 

 from the bill to the eye, and a white superciliary line ; below, pure white, 

 usually rufescent on the breast, and with more or less dusky speckling on the 

 throat, breast and sides usually wanting ; in winter the upper parts mostly 

 plain ashy-gray ; but in any plumage or under any variation the species is 

 known by its small size and semi-palmated feet. Length, 5^-6^ inches ; 

 wing, 4j-3f ; tarsus, and middle toe and claw, about i ; bill variable from ^ 

 to ij, averaging ^. 



Hab. Eastern Province of North America, breeding north of the 

 United States ; south in winter to the West Indies and South America. 



