270 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



from which its greater size and the pure white base of the 

 tail readily distinguish it. 



Pectoral Sandpiper ; Grass Bird. Actodromas 



maculata 



9.00. Bill 1.16 



Ad. in spring. — Upper parts gray tinged with rusty and 

 speckled with brownish-black ; rump and base of tail brownish- 

 black, tipped with reddish-buff; central tail-feathers dark, outer 

 ones lighter; sides of neck, and breast pale buff, streaked with 

 dusky ; rest of under parts white. Ad. in fall. — Similar, but the 

 rusty tinge on the upper parts wanting. Im. — Feathers of upper 

 back tipped with white; breast more huffy. 



The Pectoral Sandpiper, the Grass Bird or Krieker of 

 the sportsmen, is a migrant in spring and fall, generally 

 not uncommon, and occasionally abundant. It passes north 

 in April and May, and returns from the end of July to 

 October. It is strictly a bird of the grassy marshes, rarely 

 appearing on the mud-flats or sand-bars. After a flock 

 lights, the birds generally scatter over the marsh, and when 

 approached crouch on the ground like snipe, till one is 

 almost on them. When they fly, they utter a sharp krick- 

 krick. The male is considerably larger than the female ; 

 both look like a large edition of the Least Sandpiper. 



Purple Sandpiper. Arquatella maritima 



9.00. Bill 1.40 



Ad. in winter. — Upper parts dark gray, with a bluish gloss in 

 strong light ; throat and breast dark gray ; belly and under sides 

 of the wings white ; sides streaked with dark gray. 



The Purple Sandpiper, or Winter Snipe of the gunners, 

 occurs as a winter visitant to the rocky shores of New Eng- 

 land and of Long Island, arriving in September and leaving 

 in February or March. It finds its food on rocky ledges 

 exposed by the falling tide, and occurs most frequently on 



