THE SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. 451 



feathers longest ; outer feathers frequently longer than the third, presenting a doubly 

 emarginate character to the tail ; under coverts nearly as long as the tail ; upper 

 parts light brownish-ashy, -with lanceolate or ovate spots of brownish-black in the 

 middle of the feathers; rump and upper tail coverts black; front, band of the eye, 

 and entire under parts, ashy-white, with small spots on the breast of ashy-brown ; 

 quills brownish-black, lighter on their inner webs, and with their shafts white; 

 middle "feathers of the tail brownish-black; outer feathers pale brownish-ashy; 

 under wing coverts and axillaries white; bill greenish-black ; feet dark, the lower 

 part of the tarsus and toes frequently tinged with yellow; upper parts, in summer, 

 mixed with light-reddish ; iris brown. 



Total length, about six and a half inches ; wing, three and three-quarters ; tail, 

 one and three-quarters; bill, from gape, three-quarters; tarsus, three-quarters to one 

 inch. 



This abundant little species is singularly variable in the length of the bill, so 

 much so, in fact, that a student with two specimens representing extremes in this 

 particular would deem it quite impossible that they could be identical specifically. 



Bab. — Entire temperate regions of North America; South America. 



The Semipalmated Sandpiper is so similar in its general 

 appearance and habits with the common " Peep," that it is 

 usually confounded with that bird by all our sportsmen. It 

 appears at the same time, associates with it, and altogether 

 might easily be mistaken for it, were it not for the semi- 

 palmation of this species. It breeds in the most northern 

 localities. 



Mr. Hutchins says that it arrives at Severn River, in the 

 fur countries, in great numbers, about the middle of May, 

 where it builds a loose nest of withered grass in a slight 

 hollow in the ground, early in June, and lays four white 

 eggs, spotted with black or dusky-brown. Like the " Com- 

 mon Peep," the flight of this bird is rapid and wavering, 

 almost exactly resembling that of the Snipe. It also has the 

 same soft call-note, 'tweet 'tweet, that the other has, which 

 it utters- frequently, both while on the strand and when 

 flying. 



Sub-Family Totanin^e. — The Stilts. 



Bill as long as the head, or longer; the basal portion covered with soft skin; the 

 terminal portion (generally at least half) horny, and more or less attenuated and 

 pointed in Totanem; the lateral grooves of bill extending to the horny terminal 

 portion ; the gape of mouth extending behind the base of culmen toes generally 



