RHYACOPHILUS SOLITARIUS : SOLITARY TATTLER. 239 



feathers beautifully and regularly barred with white and black. 

 Bill blackish ; legs dark greenish, drying quite black. Length, 

 8.00-9.00 ; extent, 15.50-17.00; wing, 4.75-5.40; tail, 2.25; bill, 

 I.I2-I.24 ; tarsus, i. 20-1. 30. 



The New England status of this bird is not deter- 

 mined with desirable precision. We think it is really to 

 be classed as a summer resident, and a breeder within 

 our limits, in the Canadian Fauna at least, though the 



Fig. 55. — Head of Solitary Sandpiper. Nat. size. 



evidence favoring this view is not entirely satisfactory. 

 It is not one of the " high north " birds ; our Arctic 

 explorers do not report it from such regions, and it 

 unquestionably passes the summer in portions of the 

 United States adjoining British provinces, though its 

 breeding has thus far eluded satisfactory observation, 

 and the eggs are still a special desideratum. In 

 Southern New England it is chiefly if not entirely a 

 migrant. 



Mr. E. A. Samuels speaks of its remaining about 

 Canton, Mass., during the summer, and thinks that it 

 breeds there. Mr. Maynard prints a note from Mr. 

 Brewster, to the effect that Solitary Sandpipers were 

 common at Gorham in July, when they were migrating, 

 and that he saw a pair with young at Franconia in 

 August (Pr. Bost. Soc, xiv, 1871, p. 383). Dr. Brewer 

 marks the species as a summer resident in Northern 

 New England (Pr. Bost. Soc, xvii, 1875, p. 446). The 



