274 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER {PisoUa fuscicoUis). 

 Common or local names: Bull-peep; Sand-bird. 



Length. — 6.75 to 8 inclies; bill about 1. 



AduU in Spring. — Above black and brownisli bufi; the back feathers have 

 black centers and buff margins arranged in stripes; top of head dark- 

 ened with fine black streaks on buff ground, much like Pectoral Sand- 

 piper, but upper coverts at base of tail pure white; middle tail feathers 

 dark, outer ones light ashy; throat and most of under parts white; 

 sides of head, neck and breast buffy and streaked with lines of distinct 

 dusky spots. 



AduU in Fall. — Above plain ashy or brownish gray, often showing patches 

 of the black and brown of spring pliunage; a white line over eye and a 

 dark line through it; breast faintly and indistinctly streaked. 



Young. — Similar to spring adults, but less distinctly marked; feathers of 

 back tipped with white and edged with reddish brown; breast grayish. 



Field Marks. — The large pure white patch just above the tail, conspicuous 

 in flight, distinguishes this bird. 



Notes. — A rather sharp piping, weet, weet (Goss) ; and a lisping note. 



Season. — Rather uncommon spring and fall migrant coastwise; very rare 

 inland; May and mid July to October. 



Range. — North and South America. Breeds along the Arctic coast from 

 northwestern Mackenzie to Cumberland Island; has occurred in sum- 

 mer west to Point Barrow and east to Greenland; winters from Para- 

 guay to southern Patagonia and the Falkland Islands; in migration 

 most abundant in the Mississippi valley, less so on the Atlantic coast; 

 casual in Bermuda, Great Britain, the West Indies and Central America. 



