SPOTTKD flulNDPIPEE. 487 



Killdeer (^gtaliUt vocifenu) as to raase the belief that their identification could not be 

 eoneotly made. During the last year eggs -were sent to me for verification from five 

 different parties, and all were deemed not worthy of credence. A few days ago, hearing 

 of a Solitary Tattler having been shot near her nest, and an egg obtained, in Castleton, 

 Vermont, I at once wrote to the party, and have obtained from him a temporary loan of 

 both parent and egg, with permission to describe the same in the Bulletin. 



The bird and egg were taken by Mr. Jenness Richardson about the middle of May, — 

 I have not the exact dat«, — 1878, at Lake Bomaseen, on the ground, in a pasture bord- 

 ering on a swamp. Tbe bird wa« on her nest when first discovered, but flattered off when 

 approached, ran a short distance, then stood still, watching him until she was seemed. 

 There was no aetaal nest, only a small depression in the ground. I am informed by 

 Mr. Eichardson that the bird is quite common in that locality, but very shy. This egg 

 resembles no egg in my possession, and in its appearance there is something suggestive 

 of an egg prematurely cut from its parent. It is smaller than I anticipated, measuring 

 only 1.37 by .95, while the egg of Totanue ochrtrpus, which bird closely corresponds in 

 size and appearance with our Solitary, measures 1.50 by 1.10. Tbe ground-color is a 

 light drab, similar to that of tbe egg of .Mgialitia melodvia. Over this are scattered small 

 rounded markings of brown, some of these quite cark, nowhere confluent, and nev«r 

 large enongh to be called blotches. At the larger end there are a few faint purplish or 

 lilac dibcolorations or shell-marks. In shape it is an elongated pyriform." 



Giaros TRINGOIDES. Bonaparte. 



Bill short, staaight, grooved nearly to the tip, about equal to tarsus and middle toe. 

 Gap extending but little beyond base of culmen. Outer toe webbed, inner cleft. Tail 

 much roundrd, more than half the wing. 



Trihgoides maculabius (L.) Gr. 



Spotted Smndpiper. 



ToUmm maeulariue, Kirtulnd, Ohio Geo log. Snrv., 1838, 165. 



Trmgoides maculariui, Wheaton, Ohio Agric. Rpp. for 1860, 369 ; Reprint, 11 ; Food of 

 Birdi, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 573 ; Reprint, 1875, 13. — Langdon, Cat Birds 

 of Cin., 1877, 15 ; Revised List, Joum. Gin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 183 ; Reprint, 17 ; 

 Summer Birds, iii, 1880, 227. 



Spotted Sandpiper, Ballou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 138. 



Tringa maaularia, Linn^us, Sjst. Nat., i, 1766, 249. 

 Totanns maoulariue, Temmirck, Man., 1815, 422. 

 Tringtidea macuUtriMS, Qeay, Gen. of Birds, iii, 1849, 574. 



Above, olive (quaker-odJor, exactly as in the Cuckoo), with a coppery lustre, finely 

 varied with black ; line over eye, and entire under parts pure white, with numerous 

 sharp circular black spots, larger and more crowded in tbe female than in the male, en- 

 tirely wanting in very young birds ; secondaries broadly white- tipped, and inner prima- 

 ries with a white spot ; most of the tail feathers like the back with sub-terminal black 

 bar and white tip ; bill pale-yellow, tipped with black ; feet flesh-color. Length, 7-8 ; 

 wing, about 4 ; tail, about 2 ; bill, tarsus and middle toe, each about 1. 



Habitat, North America at large. Breeds nearly throughout its North American 

 range. Winters in the Southern States and beyond. Central and South America 

 to Brazil. West Indies. Casual in Europe. 



