ALASKA. 183 



the base, with very long nasal fossae, reaching to within ^ inch 

 of the tip, and deep at the base; the groove of the under man- 

 dible co-extensive in length, but linear throughout. Feathers 

 OQ side of under mandible extending beyond those ou the 

 upper; the interramal feathers projecting still a little ways 

 farther. Legs very short, (much as in Tringa maritima ;) tibial 

 feathers reaching nearly or quite to the suffrago; tarsus shorter 

 than the bill, or than the middle toe and claw. Wings and 

 tail as usual throughout the genus. 



A coronal area, the upper back, interscapular region and 

 scapulars, black, completely variegated with rich chestnut- 

 brown, paler ochery brown and whitish, the body of each 

 feather being black, with one or another or all of these various 

 edgings ; the coronal separated from the interscapular mark- 

 ings by a grayish-white, dusky-streaked cer%'ieal interval. 

 Lower back and rump and upper tail-coverts blackish brown 

 or grayish black, only varied with au occasional chestnut-edged 

 feather. Wing-coverts grayish brown, with narrow white edg- 

 ing, the greater with broad, definite white tips. Secondaries 

 nearly all j)ure white, a few of the outermost, and innermost 

 also, with grayish-brown touches near the end. Primaries 

 grayish brown with white shafts, except at tip, and fading to 

 white on the inner webs toward the base ; several of the inner- 

 most, also, largely white on the outer web, and with definite 

 white tipping. Central tail-feathers brownish black; next pair 

 abruptly paler, grayish ; the rest white, or nearly so, with a 

 faint gray tint. Front and sides of head, superciliary line, 

 the tufts of flank-feathers, and entire under parts, white; inter- 

 rupted ou the breast with a large but not perfectly continuous 

 nor well-defined blackish area, and marked ou the upper breast 

 and sides with a few narrow, sharp, blackish shaft-lines, a 

 dusky auricular patch. Legs and bill dark. Length, appar- 

 ently about 9.50 inches ; wing, about 5; tail, 2.50; bill, 1.10 

 to 1.40 ; tarsus, .90 to 1.00 ; middle toe and claw, 1.05 to 1.20. 

 t The sexes are not distinguishable by any outward mark. We 

 have before us no specimen in complete fall-plumage; but one 

 taken June 9, still retaining at that date the past season's 

 plumage, for the most part, enables us to predicate the 

 autumnal and winter vesture. The difference is entirely anal- 

 ogous to that seen in various other sandpipers. It consists in 

 the great development and intensity of the chestnut edgings of 

 the feathers of tbe upper part, to the restriction of their black 

 fields, and to the exclusion, nearly complete, of the pale ochery 



