SCOLOPACID^ : SANDPIPERS. 627 



generally, and of the tertials and central tail-feathers, light bright chestnut, and the tips pure 

 white. Lesser wing-coverts broadly edged and tipped with light ferruginous. Suffusion on 

 the breast and juguluin with a yellowish ochreous tinge not seen in the adult, and the streaks 

 less distinct. Other parts as in the adult. Not known to have a plain ashy and white winter 

 plumage like most sandpipers. Length 9.00-9.50 inches; extent 16.50-18.00 ; wing (average) 

 5.50 ; biU, tarsus, and n^iddle toe with claw about 1.10. N., C. and S. Am., W. I., Green- 

 land, Asia, and Europe; thus of wide and general dispersion; in U. S., chiefly during the 

 migrations, when abundapt in wet grassy meadows, muddy ponds and flats, etc. It goes very far 

 north, quite to the Arctic Ocean, and is supposed to breed only in high latitudes ; the nest and 

 eggs are stDl unknown. In some respects of habit it is quite snipe-Hke ; it never flocks on the 

 beaches with the smaller sandpipers, and it has at times a wayjvard towering flight, like that 

 of a snipe. During the amours, this sandpiper has the power of inflating the throat to a won- 

 derful extent, forming a swelling which hangs like a great goitre upon the breast. ' Pectoral 

 sandpiper' is a book-name, seldom spoken, the bird being better known as the 'grass-snipe,' 

 and 'jack-snipe'; but both these names are objectionable, as it is not a snipe; and 'jack- 

 snipe,' moreover, is the proper name of an English species of GalUnago ((?. gallinula), not 

 found in this country, where G. wilsoni sometimes takes the same designation. 



617. A. bonapar'tii. (To C. L. Bonaparte.) White-rumpbd Sandpiper. Bill quite stout, 

 moderately long, equal to the head or tarsus, the tips somewhat expanded. Grooves on both 

 mandibles long and deep. Feathers extending on the lower mandible but little beyond those 

 on the upper. Wings long, pointed, first primary decidedly longest ; tertials long, nari-ow, 

 and flowing. Tail moderate, quite deeply doubly-emarginate, the central feathers somewhat 

 pointed- and considerably projecting. Tarsus rather longer than the middle toe. Toes long, 

 slender, and slightly, margined. Crown and upper parts generally light brownish-ash, each 

 feather with a large fleld of dusky towards its end, and on the crown and middle of the back 

 edged with light yellowish-red, deepening into bright sienna on the scapulars. Lesser wing- 

 coverts dark brownish-ash, fading into light ashy on the edges, and with shaft-lines of blackish. 

 Secondaries and greater coverts light grayish-ash, edged and tipped with white. Tertials very 

 dark brownish-ash, fading into light ashy on the edges. Primaries deep dusky, their shafts 

 white in the central portions, and the innermost edged with white. Rump brownish-black. 

 Upper tail-coverts white, their outer series with sagittate spots of dusky. Central tail-feathers 

 brownish-black, the rest very light grayish-ash, broadly edged and tipped with white. Jug- 

 ulum and breast with a scarcely appreciable wash of light ashy, with numerous, distinct, linear- 

 oblong streaks of dusky brown ; these extend as minute dots nearly or quite to the bill, and as 

 narrow shaft-lines along the sides to the vent. Rest of under parts white, immaculate. 

 Lower mandible flesh-colored for half its length ; rest of bill, with the legs and feet, black. 

 Length 7-50; extent 15.00; wing 4.80; bill, tarsus and middle toe with claw rather less than 

 1.00. Young in August : Upper parts a nearly uniform dark ash, the black of the adults show- 

 ing at intervals, but principally on the scapulars, where also the reddish margins of the feathers 

 are apparent. Jugulum and sides under the wings with an ashy sufi'usion, more conspicuous 

 than in the adult, but much more restricted, and the strealcs more obsolete and indistinct. 

 Central pair of upper tail-coverts usually dusky. Other parts as in the adult. America at large, 

 but not yet observed W. of the R. Mts., nor in Alaska; Greenland, Europe. Breeds from 

 Labrador northward ; migratory through the E. U. S. 



618. A. coo'peri ? (To Wm. Cooper.) Cooper's Sandpiper. Bill considerably longer than the 

 head, exceeding the tarsus, straight, rather stout, tip scarcely expanded. Feathers extending 

 on side of lower mandible scarcely further than those on the upper. Wings long, pointed, first 

 primary decidedly longest ; tertials moderately long and rather slender. Tail moderate, slightly 

 but decidedly doubly-emarginate, the central feathers projecting. Tarsus rather longer than 

 the middle toe ; tibia bare for half the length of the tarsus; toes all long, slender, and slightly 



