THE LEAST SANDPIPER. 447 



with ashy-v/hite; under wing coverts and axillaries white ; bill and feet greenish- 

 black ,* iris hazel. 



Total length, about seven inches ; wing, four and three-quarters ; tail, two and a 

 quarter; bill, one; tarsus, rather less than an inch. 



Bab. — North America, east of the Rocky Mountains. 



This bird also is often known to sportsmen by the com- 

 prehensive name " Grass-bird." It is less abundant than 

 the preceding, but has all its habits. It appears in small 

 flocks of eight or ten, and frequents the marshes and marshy 

 shores in preference to the sandy beach. In such localities, 

 it feeds upon various insects and aquatic animals, and lar- 

 vae of aquatic insects ; and is often seen in fresh-water 

 meadows, at a considerable distance from the shore, busy in 

 search of this variety of food. Nuttall says it lays four 

 eggs, smaller than those of the T. alpina, of a yellowish- 

 pray color, spotted with olive or chestnut-brown. 



TEINGA WILSONII.— NuttaM. 



The Least Sandpiper; Peep. 



Tringa pusilla, Wilson. Am. Orn., V. (1812) 32. Aud. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838 1 

 180. 76., Birds Am., V. (1842) 280. 



Tringa Wikonii, Nuttall. Man., n. (1834) 121. 



Desceiption. 



The smallest of all known species of this group found in North America; bill 

 about as long as the head, slightly curved towards the end, which is very slightly 

 expanded; grooves in both mandibles to near the tip; wing long; tertiaries nearly 

 as long as the primaries; tail short; middle feathers longest; outer feathers fre- 

 quently longer than the intermediate; legs long; lower third of the tibia naked; 

 toes long, slender, margined, and flattened beneath ; hind toe small ; upper parts with 

 nearly every feather having a large central spot of brownish-black, and widely mar- 

 gined with ashy and bright brownish-red; rump and middle of the upper tail 

 coverts black; outer coverts white, spotted with black; stripe over the eye, throat, 

 and breast, pale ashy-white, with numerous small longitudinal spots of ashy-brown ; 

 abdomen and under tail coverts white ; quills dark-brown, with the shafts of the 

 primaries white; tertiaries edged with reddish; middle feathers of the tail brownish- 

 black; outer feathers light ashy-white; under surface of wing light brownish- ashy, 

 with a large spot of white near the shoulder ; axillary feathers white ; bill and legs 

 greenish-brown, the latter frequently yellowish-green. 



Total length, from tip of bill to end of tail, about five and a half to six inches ; 

 wing, three and a half to three and three-quarters ; tail, one and three-quarters ; bill 

 to gape, three-quarters ; tarsus, three-quarters of an inch. 



Hub. — Entire temperate North America. 



