Hl'OLOI'ACID.i:— TUK HNII'K FAMILY. 67 



"Very common siiiiinicr residenfc. Arrives early in April and 

 departs in Scptciiibcr. I'reiiiioiitH in o^oatest abundance the 

 borders of nuirslics and half wild jn-aiiicH. (^uite difhcult to 

 ajiproach whtMi it first arrives, but during the breeding season 

 bet'onies ])erfectly reckless, and hovers over head or follows 

 throu<2,h the grass within a few yards until it has escorted the 

 intruder well off its domain. The presence of a dog in the 

 vicinity of its nesting place is the signal for a general onslaught 

 by all the birds in the vicinity, which hover over the dog, and 

 with loud cries endeavor to drive it away. Being but little ap- 

 preciated as game it is seldom hunted in this vicinity." 



Genus ACTITIS Illiger. 



ulo<i<is iLiiiGKB, Prodr. 1811, p. 262. Type, by elimination, Tringa hypoleuca Lrs'N. 

 Tringoides Bonap. Siiggio di una dist, etc., 1831, 58. Same type. 



Chab. Upper mandible grooved to the terminal fourth: the bill tapering and rather 

 acute. Cleft of mouth only moderate; the culmen about five sixths the commissure. 

 Feathers exteu<ling rather further on side of lower jaw than upper, the former reaching as 

 far as the beginning of the nostrils; those of the chin to about their middle. Bill shorter 

 than the head, straight, eiiual to the tarsus, which is of the length of middle too and claw. 

 Bare part of tibia half the tarsus. Outer toe webbed to tlrst joint; inner cleft nearly or 

 quite to the base. Tail much rounded, more than half the wing. 



Actitis macularia (Linn.) 



SPuTTED SANDPIPEE. 

 Popular synonyms. Sand Snipe; Sand Laik; lliver Peet-weet or Tip-up; River Snipe. 



Tringa inavuliria LiNN. S. N. ed. 12, i, 17Cf., 249.— WtCS. Am. Orn. vii. 1813. 60, pi. 59, fig. 1. 

 Totaniis macularius Temm. 1815.— Nott. Man. ii, 18:31.162.- AuD. Orn. Biog. iv. 1839. 81. pi. 



310; Synop. 1839. 242; B. Am. v. 1*12. 303. pi. 342. 

 Tringoides macularius Gray, 1849.— Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858. 73.">.— BAiRD.CaL N. 

 Am. B. 1859, No. 543.-Coue8, Key. 1872, 200: Check List, 1873, N... 346; 2d ed. lSs2. No. 

 638; B. N. W. 1874. 501.— KiDow. Nom. N. Am. B. ISSI. 557.— B. B. & K. Water B. N. 

 Am. i. 1881. 301. 

 c/i7is j/iaciWrtrirt Naum. Vog. Doutschl. viii, 18;!6. 34.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 

 2u3.-HiDOW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887. 170. 



Hab. The whole of North and Middle America, and South America as far as Brazil; 

 occasional in Europe; no Greenland record. Breeds throughout temperate North 

 America. 



Sp. Char. Small, bill rather longer than the hea»l. straight, slender; long crooves in 

 both mandibles: wing rather long, pointed; tall medium, rounded; logs rather long; lower 

 third of the tibia naked: toes long, margined, and flattened underneath, the outer con- 

 nected with the middle toe by a large membrane, the inner very slightly connected to the 

 middle toe. Adult: Upper parts greenish ashy, with a somewhat metallic or bronzed luster 

 and with nunnTous sagittate, lanceolate, and irregular, mostly transverse, spots of brown- 

 ish black, having the .'*ame lustre. Line over the eye and entire under part« white, with 

 numerous ciroular and oval spots of brownish black over the whole surface, smaller od the 



