588 AMERICAN STINT. 
and Brazil. In autumn large flocks take an easterly direction as 
far as the Bermudas, while on the west side the species is extremely 
common in Southern California. 
A nest found in Labrador by Audubon is described as a hollow 
lined with a few blades of dry grass, the locality chosen being 
under the lee of a small rock, exposed to all the heat the sun can 
give in that country. The eggs, 4 in number, are of a rich cream- 
yellow tint, blotched and dotted with very dark umber, especially at 
the larger end: specimens in Mr. Dresser’s collection measure 1 in. 
by ‘8 in. Of twenty nests found on the Barren grounds by Mr. 
MacFarlane, all but six were taken between June 21st and 3oth. 
Worms, small crustaceans and marine insects are the chief food of 
this species. The note is a shrill twitter, resembling the syllables 
peep-peet. 
The adult in breeding-plumage has the feathers on the head and 
back blackish, slightly edged with rufous; hind-neck ashy, varied 
with rufous; wing-coverts ash-grey, exteriorly margined with buff, 
the greater coverts with white edges which form an indistinct alar 
bar ; quills ash-brown, blacker towards their tips, the shafts whitish- 
brown, with the exception of the outermost which is chiefly white 
and only dusky towards the extremity ; lower back and rump deep 
black ;. tail-feathers pale ash-grey, the middle pair elongated and 
blackish like the rump;.lores, eyebrows, and sides of the face 
whitish ; throat white ; chest ashy, mottled with dark brown in the 
centres of some of the feathers; rest of the under surface white ; 
under wing-coverts whitish, some of the lower ones mottled with 
brown ; bill nearly black ; legs dusky olive-brown ; iris dark hazel. 
Externally there is no material difference between the sexes. Total 
length 5°25 in., wing 3°5 in. In autumn some of the feathers of 
the back and scapulars have pale grey edges. The winter-plumage 
is ash-grey above, some of the dorsal feathers being dark purplish- 
brown in the centre and margined with white; the lower part of 
back and the rump are blackish; the upper wing-coverts like the 
back, the-greater coverts clearer brown, and indistinctly tipped with 
white ; rest of the plumage as in summer. 
The Semipalmated Sandpiper, Z. pusilla, or Eveunetes pusillus, 
another very common and widely-distributed species in America, 
may always. be distinguished from the above by having the anterior 
toes webbed at the base. It has not yet been obtained in Europe, 
but visits the north-east of Siberia. : 
