THE CURLEW SANDPIPER. 443 



with a purple and violet tinge, strongest on the back and scapulars ; under parts 

 from the breast white, generally with longitudinal spot of dark-ashy ; wing coverts 

 more or less edged and tipped with white; quills brownish-black, edged with white ; 

 middle tail feathers brownish-black, outer feathers lighter, with their shafts white ; 

 axillaries and under wing coverts white; bill yellow at base, dark at tip; legs 

 yellow. 



Total length, about eight to nine inches; wing, five; tail, two and a half; bill 

 from gape, one and a quarter; tarsus, one inch; iris orange. 



Hah. — Eastern North America; Europe. 



This species is not uncommon on our shores during the 

 spring and autumn migrations, where they are active and 

 busy in their search for small shell-fish, and crustaceans, 

 which constitute their principal food. They have all the 

 characteristics of the Spotted Sandpiper while with us, and, 

 from their preference to rocky beaches and shores, are often 

 called Rock Snipes. They proceed to the most northern 

 portions of the continent to breed, where, according to Dr. 

 Richardson, they lay four eggs, which are " pyriform, six- 

 teen and a half lines long, and an inch across at their great- 

 est breadth. Their color is yellowish-gray, interspersed 

 with small irregular spots of pale brown, crowded at the 

 obtuse end, and rare at the other." 



TRINGA STJBARQTJATA — Temm. 



The Curlew Sandpiper. 



Tringa subarquata, Temm. Man., II. (1820) 608. Nutt. Man., II. 104. Aud. 

 Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 444. lb., Birds Am., V. (1842) 269. 



Description. 



Bill rather longer than the head, slender, compressed, slightly curved towards 

 the tip, which is somewhat expanded; both mandibles grooved; wing long, pointed; 

 tail short; legs long, slender; toes moderate, marginated and flattened underneath. 

 Upper parts brownish-black, nearly every feather edged and spotted with bright 

 yellowish-red, rump ashy-brown, upper coverts of the tail white, with transverse 

 bands of brownish-black; wings ashy-brown, shafts of primaries white; under parts 

 fine dark-yellowish rufous; sides, axillaries, and under tail coverts, white ; under 

 surface of wing white ; tail pale brownish-ashy, with a greenish gloss ; bill and legs 

 greenish-brown. 



Young. — Upper parts much more ashy, and with little of the red of the preced- 

 ing; under parts entirely dull-white, tinged with yellowish on the breast and sides; 

 an obscure line over the eye ashy-white; outer feathers of the tail nearly white. 



