LONG-LEGGED SANDPIPER. 333 
several of them emitted a sharp teweet-tweet, somewhat resembling the 
notes of Totanus solitarius ; immediately after which seven birds of 
the same species passed close to me, and alighted near those which I 
had already watched. They at once began to feed, and as I thought 
that the first flock might join them, and that I might lose the oppor- 
tunity of procuring specimens, in sufficient number, IJ fired and killed 
eleven. ‘The rest flew off, and were joined by the second group, the 
whole flying to windward in a compact body, and emitting every now 
and then their sharp teeet, tweet, until out of sight and hearing. 
My son Joun obtained several of these birds on the same island 
while they were feeding on the margins of a fresh-water pond ; and we 
saw them on almost every island and bay on our way to the Texas, 
where we also procured some on Galveston Island. 
The flight of these Sandpipers is rapid and regular. They move com- 
pactly, and often when about to alight, or after being disturbed, in- 
cline their bodies to either side, shewing alternately the upper and lower 
parts. On foot they move more like Curlews than Tringas, they be- 
ing as it were more sedate in their deportment. At times, on the ap- 
proach of a person, they squat on the ground, very much in the man- 
ner of the Esquimaux Curlew, Vwmenius borealis; and their flesh is as 
delicate as that of the species just named. In the stomach of several 
individuals I found small worms, minute shell-fish, and vegetable sub- 
stances, among which were the hard seeds of plants unknown tome. I 
suspect that in summer and autumn they feed on small fruits and 
berries, though of this I have no proof. 
Among those which we procured, I found the differences in the 
colour of the plumage quite as great as in Scolopax noveboracensis, some 
of the younger birds being yet in their winter dress, while the older had 
already assumed a reddish colour on the cheeks, the top of the head, and 
the breast. The females were all larger than the males, and differed from 
’ each other not only in the markings of the plumage, but also in the 
length of the bill, to the extent of a quarter of an inch, and of the legs, 
toa still greater extent. Whether or not this species assumes a uniform 
reddish tint in the breeding season, such as is observed in the Pigmy 
Curlew, Tringa subarquata, 1 am unable to say, although I am much 
inclined to think that it does. 
Their passage through the United States is very rapid, both in 
