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THE PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 



Tringa pectoralis, Bonap. 



PLATE CCXCIV. Male and Female. 



This Sandpiper is not uncommon along the shores of our Eastern 

 States in autumn and winter. It has also lately been found in England, 

 and I have seen a specimen of it in the possession of William Yahrell, 

 Esq. of London, who received it from a person who had shot it not far 

 from the metropolis. I first met with this species in the immediate vici- 

 nity of Dennisville, in the State of Maine, feeding on the rocky bars of 

 the river at low water. In the neighbourhood of Boston it is more abun- 

 dant than elsewhere. Mr Nuttall states, that " they are killed in abun- 

 dance on the shores of Cohasset, and other parts of Massachussetts Bay, 

 and are brought in numbers to the market of Boston, being very fat and 

 well-flavoured.'" " They arrive,"" he adds, " in flocks about the close of 

 August, and continue there, as well as in New Jersey, till the month of 

 September. In some instances solitary individuals have been killed in 

 the marshes of Charles River, in Cambridge, about the 22d of July ; 

 these were in company with flocks of small Sandpipers {T. Wilsonii), 

 but whether pairs may perhaps breed in the neighbouring marshes or not, 

 we have not had the means of ascertaining. While here, they feed on 

 small coleoptera, larvag, and the common green Ulva latissima, as well as 

 some species of fucus or sea-weed, on which they become fat. They utter 

 a low plaintive whistle when started, very similar to that of other species. 

 Like the Snipe they seem fond of damp meadows and marshes, and soli- 

 tary individuals are often surprised by the sportsman in the manner of 

 that bird." 



I have observed that the flight of the Pectoral Sandpiper resembles 

 that of the Knot, and is firm, rapid, and well sustained. It skims rather 

 low over the surface of the water or the land, and at times shoots high 

 up into the air, propelling itself with double rapidity and in perfect si- 

 lence. It runs with great agility, and probes the sand or wet earth, im- 

 mersing its bill up to the base. I never saw this species in any part of 

 the interior. Its places of resort during the breeding season, and the 

 changes of plumage which it undergoes, are unknown. 



