Shore-bird Shooting 385 



suit promises success, the male, rising fifteen to 

 twenty yards in the air, hovers over the female, 

 pouring forth a perfect gush of music, and then 

 sinks back to earth. But, later still, he gives up 

 his singing and takes his turn in keeping the 

 eggs from catching cold. The nest is on slightly 

 elevated ground, and the eggs are placed on a 

 little dried grass ; before August the young fly, 

 and gather in flocks about the shore, remaining 

 until late September, then leaving for more south- 

 ern climes. This species is also known in various 

 localities as winter snipe, leadback, fall snipe, 

 brant snipe, and black-bellied sandpiper. 



CURLEW SANDPIPER 

 ( Tringa ferrugined) 



Adult male and female in breeding plumage — Crown, back, and 

 scapulars, rusty, streaked with black ; head, neck, breast, sides, 

 and belly, deep chestnut ; anal region, upper and lower tail- 

 coverts, white, spotted with black and tinged with rusty ; wing- 

 coverts, brownish gray, tipped with white ; middle tail feathers, 

 dark slate color ; rest of the tail, ashy gray, feathers bordered 

 with white. 



Winter plumage — Upper parts, brownish gray, marked indistinctly 

 with darker ; tail-coverts, upper and lower, white, spotted with 

 black ; superciliary stripe and lower parts, white, the jugulum 

 faintly streaked with gray. 



Young— Back and scapulars, dusky black, feathers tipped with light 

 brown and terminally with white ; lesser and middle wing-coverts, 

 bordered with buff; upper tail-coverts, white ; indistinct super- 

 ciliary stripe and lower parts, white ; jugulum and sides of the 

 head, tinged with buff; iris, brown; bill, black at tip, blackish 

 green at base ; feet and legs, light olive. 



2C 



