156 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Genus TRYNGITES Cabanis. 

 TRYNGITES SUBRUFICOLLIS (Vieill.). 



114. Buff-breasted Sandpiper. (262) 



Quills, largely white on the inner web, and with beautiful black marbling or 

 mottling, best seen from below; tail, unbarred, gray, the central feathers 

 darker, all with subterminal black edging and white tips; crown and upper 

 parts blackish, the feathers with whitish or tawny edging, especially on the 

 wings ; sides of the head, neck all round and under parts, pale rufous or fawn 

 color, speckled on the neck and breast with dusky ; bill, black ; feet, greenish- 

 yellow. Length, 7-8; wing, 5-5J; tail, 2J; tarsus, IJ; middle toe and claw, 

 and bill, under an inch. 



Hab. — North America, especially in the interior; breeds in the Yukon 

 district and the interior of British America, northward to the Arctic coast; 

 South America in winter. Of frequent occurrence in Europe. 



Nest, a depression in the ground, lined with dry grass or leaves. 



Eggs, four ; clay color, blotched or spotted with umber-brown. 



In the early fall I have several times met with these interesting 

 little birds, running among the short grass on the sandy knolls, north 

 of the canal at the beach, but have not seen them elsewhere. 



They are said to breed in high latitudes, a dozen sets of eggs in 

 the Smithsonian Institute having all been collected by Mr. Macfar- 

 lane in the Anderson River region, and along the Arctic coast. 



With this record before me, I was not a little surprised to receive 

 from Dr. G. A. Macallum, of Dunnville, a notice of his having 

 found a nest of the species near his home, a few miles back from the 

 north shore of Lake Erie. In answer to my request for further 

 particulars, I received a prompt and full reply, from which the 

 following is an extract : "About the Buff-breasted Sandpiper — I 

 find on turning up my notes that it was taken June 10th, 1879, when 

 two of the eggs were hatched and the other one chipped, but of this, 

 however, I was able to make a good specimen, and it is now in my 

 cabinet. 



"The female was shot, and with the two little fellows, stands in 

 my collection. The young are fawn-colored, with black spots over the 

 whole body; the egg measures 1.25 x .95, is pyriform in shape; color, 

 ground, buff, thickly covered with dark blotches of two shades of 

 brown, making the general appearance very dark — almost as dark as 

 the eggs of Wilson's Snipe. 



" The nest was placed between two tussocks of grass on the ground, 

 a short distance from the bank of the river, where the ground is 



