47:t BIEDS — SCOLOPACID^. 



at the end, the point acute ; grooves long, narrow, deep ; feathers on side of lower 

 mandible evidently reaching further than thoBe on upper. Upper parts brownish-black 

 (deepest on the rnmp and middle upper tail-coveits, and lightest on the neck behind), 

 each feather bordered and tipped with pale brownish-yellow, the tipping of the scapulars 

 broadest and nearly white, their margininga broad and brightest in tint, making several 

 deep scallops toward the shafts of the feathers. Only the outer series black, the others 

 plain gray, with paler margins. Jugnlum tinged with light, dull yellowish-brown, 

 spotted and streaked with ill- defined blackish markings, as are also the sides under the 

 wings. Throat and the other under parts white, unmarked. Feet black, like the bill. 

 Length, 7.25; extent, 15.25 ; wing, 4.90; bill, ,85; tarsus, and middle toe and claw, the 

 same. The female is entirely similar, but slightly larger. The youvg have the upper 

 parts wholly light brownish-ash, darker on the rnmp, and all the feathers with a dark 

 field, and pale or whitish edging; waves of brownish-black on the scapulars. Jugnlum 

 and breast sufl'ased with dull, light reddish-brown ; the spotting small, sparse, and very 

 Indistinct. 



T.fuacicoUis is a little larger, on an average ; the bill noticeably stouter, flesh-colored at 

 base below ; the feathers on the sides of the lower mandible do not extend noticeably 

 beyond those on the upper; the scapular edging is bright chestnut; the jugnlum is 

 white, or barely perceptibly ashy with numerous narrow, distinct streaks; and the 

 upper tail-coverts are white. T. iairdii is exactly intermediate in size between T. macu- 

 laia and T. minutilla, and is almost identical with the latter in pattern of coloration, but 

 the markings upon the breast are not thick and heavy, and the edging of the scapulars 

 not bright chestnut. The species scarcely requires comparison with ma(?t(?aiffl; the latter 

 is much larger ; it differs in the colors and proportions of the bill ; the pattern (plain, 

 unscalloped) of coloration of the scapular edgings, the abrupt transition from the color 

 of the crown to that of the hind neck ; the heavy pectoral markings, etc. T. Iairdii, 

 like all its allies, is subject to a partially melanotic condition of plumage." (Coues.) 



Habitat, North America, chiefly in the interior. Eare on the Atlantic coast. Mexico. 

 Central and South America. Africa (Layard). 



Rare spring and fall migrant in March, September, and October. 

 None of our Shore-birds seem to have had as much difficulty in 

 placing themselves in the proper light before ornithologists as this. 

 It was unknown until within the last thirty years, and when discov- 

 ered, and for sometime after, confounded with other species. Dr. Coues 

 first gave it rank and name in 1861. 



I am quite certain that I met with this species in March, 1857, and 

 took one specimen, firing, at long range, into the largest flock of Sand- 

 pipers I ever beheld, as they rose from the borders of a pond in a corn- 

 field. Since which time I have taken a single specimen in September, 

 on the gravelly shores of the Scioto river in the immediate vicinity of 

 this city. This bird was in the company of Semipalmated Plovers and 

 Least Sandpipers. Mr. Oliver Davie has a specimen taken in the same 

 locality in the following October. Mr. Winslow has a specimen taken 

 near Cleveland, and Messrs. Dury and Freeman note one specimen, 

 October, 27, 1878, at Cincinnati. 



