NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 141 



scraped into it. The eggs, four in number, of a dull brownish-buff or clay color, 

 spotted, blotched and stained with chestnut, principally about the larger end; their 

 average size is 1.43x1.01. 



244. CURLEW SANDPIPER. Tringa ferruginea Brunn. Geog. DIst.— Old 

 World in general, occasional in Eastern North America and in Alaska. 



A bird with a bill resembling that of the Curlews — long, slender, compressed and 

 considerably decurved. The length of the bird is about eight and a half inches. 

 It is said to be one of the rarest of the Sandpipers which visit North America. A 

 common species in Siberia, where it breeds. Said to breed in Holland, Denmark 

 and northward into Norway, Sweden, and in Finland. In England it is nowhere 

 abundant and does not assemble in large flocks like the Dunlin or Purre. A few 

 pairs are believed to breed in Great Britain. Known to breed in various portions 

 of Greenland — nesting near the margins of lakes and rivers where the eggs are de- 

 posited in a slight hollow of the ground, lined with bits of grass. The eggs are four 

 in number, pyriform in shape, pale grayish or greenish-buff, spotted and blotched 

 with chestnut-brown. They are hardly distinguishable from those of the Pectoral 

 or Red-backed Sandpiper's eggs, the average size being 1.50x1.04. 



[245.] SPOON-BILL SANDPIPER. Eurynorhynchus py^wus (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Asia; in summer along the Arctic coast, in winter Southern and Southeastern 

 Asia; aecidental on the coast of Alaska (Choris Peninsula). 



This is a curiously unique representative of the Sandpipers. Its bill is about as 

 long as its head, straight, spatulate long. Nelson secured a specimen in summer 

 plumage in 1881 at Plover Bay on Choris Peninsula, and Dr. Bean obtained one in 

 1880^ In summer it is found from Plover Bay to Cape Waukarum, and in this part of 

 the Siberian coast, according to Elliot, its breeding grounds are situated. Dr. Coues 

 states that it is one of the rarest birds in collections, only some 25 or 30 specimens 

 being known, mostly from India. It breeds north of Bering Strait, but the locality 

 is unknown. 



246. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. Ereunetes pusillus (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Northern and Eastern North America; west during the migrations to Rocky 

 Mountains. 



This little "Peep" is found everywhere in North America. In the summer it is 

 distributed from Labrador and western shores of Hudson Bay northward, this being 

 its breeding grounds. In spring and fall it is an abundant migrant in United States, 

 thronging the beaches, the gravelly and sandy shores of streams and muddy banks 

 of ponds, in company with the Spotted Sandpiper and others, with which it is usually 

 confounded. It winters from the Carolinas southward. It has the same 'tweet, 'tweet 

 as the Spotted Sandpiper, and utters it frequently, both on the shore and when 

 flying. The Semipalmated Sandpiper arrives in the Saskatchewan River country 

 about the middle of May, where it deposits its eggs early in June on a few pieces of 

 withered grass in a slight hollow in the ground. These are three or four in number, 

 and measure from 1.20 to 1.25 long by .82 to .85 broad. In a large series the usual 

 variations in color are noticeable; the ground color varying from clay to grayish or 

 greenish-drab or positive olive tint; usually boldly spotted and splashed with 

 umber or chestnut-brown; thickest about the largest end; and again, in some, very 

 flne dots are distributed over the entire surface. 



