WESTERN SANDPIPER 387 



tawny, the latter color often predominating, and all faintly tipped with whitish 

 or pale drab; spot or stripe on each side of forehead, and one behind eye, 

 white, usually flecked with dark brown; stripe from side of upper mandible 

 running below eye to ear region, reddish brown ; lower side of head and neck, white, 

 flecked with dark brown, most sparingly on chin; iris "brown"; bill "black" 

 (Sanford, Bishop and Van Dyke, 1903, p. 391); rump dull dark brown, many 

 of the feathers lighter at tips; inner upper tail coverts blackish brown, the 

 shorter ones sometimes tipped with tawny; outermost upper tail coverts white, 

 sometimes marked with brown; inner webs of innermost pair of tail feathers 

 blackish brown, outer webs of these, and rest of tail feathers, drab; outer 

 surface of closed wing dull brown, all of the coverts with blackish shaft streaks, 

 and usually with lighter margins; greater coverts tipped with white, forming 

 a white bar across wing when expanded: primaries blackish, shaft of outermost 

 one white, others brown toward base becoming white at tip; bend of wing scaled 

 with white and light brown; axillars and lining of wing, white; under surface 

 of flight feathers, dusky; lower surface chiefly white; throat, chest, sides, and, 

 to a less extent, flanks and outer lower tail coverts, sharply streaked with dark 

 brown, these markings largest on chest and sides, where they are somewhat tri- 

 angular; feet and legs "black" (Sanford, Bishop and Van Dyke, loc. cit.). Adults 

 and immatures, ioth sexes, in fall, winter and early spring: Whole upper surface 

 ashy brown with blackish shaft streaks and, in fresh plumage, narrow whitish 

 feather tippings giving a faintly scaled effect; spot in front of eye whitish, 

 often continuing over eye; stripe from side of bill, running below eye and 

 broadening on ear region, brownish; chin white; rump, tail and wing as in 

 summer; band of narrow brown shaft streaks across upper breast; rest of 

 under surface white. Males: Total length 5.78-6.92 inches (147-176 mm.) (ten 

 specimens from California); folded wing 3.52-3.79 (89.4-96.3); bill along 

 culmen 0.83-0.93 (21.2-23.5); tarsus 0.82-0.93 (20.8-23.5) (ten specimens from 

 California and Alaska). Females: Total length 6.00-7.00 (152-178) (ten speci- 

 mens from California); folded wing 3.67-3.89 (93.4-98.7); bill along culmen 

 0.88-1.16 (22.5-29.4); tarsus 0.85-0.98 (21.6-25.0) (ten specimens from Cali- 

 fornia and Alaska). Juvenile plumage: Eesembles that of adults in summer 

 save that colors on upper surface are duller and feathers of back are broadly 

 margined with deep tawny, the wing coverts are tipped with buffy, and the 

 breast is merely washed with buffy, not streaked except faintly at sides. 

 Natal plumage: Crown chestnut; rest of upper surface mixed black and rusty, 

 speckled with white; forehead pale buffy; black line on center of forehead and 

 two black lines between bill and eye; breast buffy; throat and rest of lower 

 surface, white. 



Marks foe tield identification — Small size (next to the Least Sandpiper, 

 which is the smallest of our shore birds), bill slightly longer than head (fig. 68), 

 and breast band without buffy ground color. Distinguished from Least Sand- 

 piper only with difficulty by its longer bill. In hand can be separated from 

 that species much more easily by presence (in the Western Sandpiper) of webs 

 between bases of front toes (fig. 70). 



Voice — A soft weet-weet, or to-wheet; in summer: a series of soft trills. 



Nest — On drier parts of tundra, often on a slight rise or hummock, but 

 usually in near vicinity of water; a thin layer of grasses or willow leaves, 

 loosely arranged, or more often merely the trampled down or matted vegeta- 

 tion at nest site. 



Eggs — Usually 4, pear-shaped, measuring in inches from 1.11 by 0.82 to 1.30 

 by 0.92 (in millimeters from 28.2 by 20.8 to 33.0 by 23.4); ground tint pale 



