l66 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



chestnut, white in the young, the bill is comparatively stout, with 

 lancet-shaped tip. It is a smallish bird noted for its beauty and 

 elegance of form, its grace and activity of movement. Their lobed 

 feet make them entirely at home on the water, and they are often 

 seen a considerable distance from land. They occur like the 

 Northern Phalarope in the United States only during their migra- 

 tions, and breed to the north. Classed under the snipes proper 

 and a very snipe-like bird, we come next to the 



Macrorhamphus griseus. — Leach. Red-breasted Snipe. Grey Snipe. Brown- 

 back. Dowitcher. Driver. 



The color is in summer brownish black above, variegated with 

 bay, below brownish-red, variegated with dusky, a tawny super- 

 ciliary stripe, and a darker one from the bill to the eye. In winter, 

 plain grey above and on the breast, with no trace of black and 

 bay, belly white. This bird differs essentially from the true snipe 

 in habits, they flying in large compact flocks like the sandpipers, 

 and for the most part inhabiting the shores of bays and estuaries, 

 rather than the wet meadows. They are shot on the shores of 

 Long Island in August in great numbers ; they are a migratory 

 Unitesd States species. 



MicropalaTna himantopus. — Baird. Stilt Sandpiper. 



,^ - fjPot a common bird, but is found in the United States in limited 

 Sniihibers during their mig^tions. It occurs in the West India 



Islands during the winter; in color it much resembles the last 



species. 



Breuneies pusillus. — Cassin. Semipalmated Sandpiper. Peep. Oxeye. 



Color above, black, bay and ashy, or white. Each feather with a 

 black field, reddish edge, and whitish tip ; below, white. In the 

 later summer they throng our shores^ and form staple sport to the 

 youthful and city tyros. They are quickly distinguished in the hand 

 fions minuttUa by the semipalmation. 



Tringa minutilla.. — VieiU. The Least Sandpiper. Peep. 



The smallest of the Sandpipers, in color it resembles the last, 

 but has rather more bay on the upper parts. These two species 

 are always found associated, and are often confounded. 



