246 SCOLOPACID^ : SNIPE, ETC. 



bill, and some of its habits, in some respects not unlike 

 those of a Charadrius or Squatarola. It is a favorite 

 game bird, and great numbers are annually killed for the 

 table. 



"The nest," says Coues, " is flimsy — merely a few 

 straws to keep the eggs from the ground, in a slight 

 depression. The eggs are ordinarily four in number, 

 as usual among Waders. The numerous specimens 

 I have collected are somewhat notably constant in 

 characters, both of size and coloration. In dimensions 

 they range from 1.90 X 1.30 inches, to 1.70 X 1.25, 

 averaging about 1.75 X 1.28. The ground is pale clay- 

 color, or a very light drab — sometimes the palest pos- 

 sible creamy-brown — with scarcely a shade of oliva- 

 ceous. They are spotted all over, but much more 

 thickly at the larger end, with rather small, sharp, 

 surface markings of umber-brown, overlaying a smaller 

 number of purplish-gray shell-markings. However 

 thickly they may be sprinkled, the spots are rarely, if 

 ever, confluent into masses of any size, the largest I 

 have seen not exceeding the diameter of a pea. These 

 larger blotches are irregular in contour, but the smaller 

 ones are mostly rounded." 



BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 



Tryngites rufescens (Vieill) Cab. 



Chars. Bill shorter than head, very slender and acute, grooved 

 nearly its whole length, as in a Tringa, but gape extensive, and 

 end of bill not dilated or sensitive. Tarsus longer than middle 

 toe and claw ; toes cleft to the base, or with only the most 

 rudimentary basal webbing. Primaries peculiarly marbled in 



