BAY BIRDS. 331 
ropes are very abundant around the pools, sloughs, and 
meadows of the West, but while some breed there, others 
go north, and are only found in the United States during 
their migrations. One of the commonest is Wilson’s 
phalarope (Steganopus wilsonit), whose slender, awl- 
shaped bill enables a person to readily distinguish it from 
other bay birds. The upper parts are of an ashy hue; the 
under parts are white; and a black stripe extends down- 
ward from the eye to the neck. The Northern phala- 
rope (Lobipes hyperbreos) is only found in the United 
States during its migrations. Its hue is grayish-black 
above, varied with tawny on the back; the under parts 
are white; the sides of the head and neck are marked 
with a broad chestnut stripe; and the upper tail-coverts 
are white. The red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) 
is an active, graceful, finely formed bird. Its lobed feet 
enables it to travel readily in the water; hence it is fre- 
quently found some distance from land. It is only a mi- 
gratory visitor to the United States. The upper parts 
are tawny and cinerous, and the lower purplish-chestnut, 
but white in the young. 
The dowitcher, brownback, gray snipe, or red-breasted. 
snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus), is gray above and on the 
breast in winter, and white on the abdomen, but, in sum- 
mer, the upper parts are brownish-black, variegated with 
light-brown, and the under portions are brownish-red va- 
riegated with dusky. This bird, though called a snipe, 
differs much from the true snipe in habits, for it prefers 
the sea-shore to the marshes, and flies in dense flocks, like 
the sand-pipers. The semipalmated sand-piper (Hrewnetes 
pustilus) and the least sand-piper (Zringa minutilla) 
are quite common on the sea-shore, associate together, and 
resemble each other closely in hue, yet they can be readily 
distinguished apart when dead by the semipalmation of 
the former. Baird’s sand-piper (Tringa bairdit) and 
the white-rumped sand-piper (7. bonapartet) are like the 
