STILT SANDPIPER. 145 



STILT SANDPIPER. 



MiCROPALAMA HIMANTOPUS. 



Char. Bill nearly as long as a Snipe's; legs much longer. Upper 

 parts mottled gray, black, and bay, or buff ; wings darker ; upper tail- 

 coverts white, barred with dusky ; tail ashy gray ; under parts dull white, 

 streaked and barred with dusky. In winter the prevailing color of the 

 upper parts is ashy gray. Length about 9 inches. 



Nest. Near the sea-shore or on border of a lake, — a slight depres- 

 sion scantily lined with leaves and grass. It is sometimes hid in a tus- 

 sock of grass. 



Eggs. 3-4; light drab or bufty white, marked with rich brown and 

 purplish gray; 1.45 X i.oo. 



Nuttall wrote of this as of three species, — Stilt Sandpiper, 

 Long-legged Sandpiper, and Douglas' Stilt Sandpiper. These 

 names apply to but one bird. 



The present species was first described by Bonaparte in 1826, 

 but until within recent years it was thought to be exceedingly rare. 

 As late as 1868 there was no record of its occurrence in New Eng- 

 land, and even in 1881 the announcement that my friend Fred 

 Daniel had secured one of three examples he had discovered on 

 the flats near St. John, N. B., was hailed as " important." 



We now know that the bird is not at all rare, and that its former 

 apparent scarcity was due to its rapid migrations. 



The Stilt Sandpiper breeds in the Arctic regions, and winters on 

 the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and southward to Brazil and 

 Peru. On the passage north and south it makes long flights and 

 a few short halts ; but small flocks have been seen at numerous 

 localities on the Atlantic coast and along the Mississippi valley 

 route. Several have been taken on the shores of the Great Lakes. 



As far as its habits and manners are known, it appears to resem- 

 ble somewhat the Dowitcher and the Yellow-legs, with which it 

 frequently associates. It walks sedately like a Curlew, and has 

 little of the vivacity so conspicuous in the Sandpiper. Our bird 

 generally feeds along the margin of the beach, wading into the 

 water and following the edge of the wave as the water flows out 

 and in. . It often probes into the sand, and acts as though securing 

 somethirig by suction. On dissection, evidence hai been found 

 that the bird's food was at least partially composed of small shell- 

 fish and worms. When disturbed, it utters a sharp tweet tweet 

 before flying. 



VOL. n. — 10 



