THE CURLEW SANDPIPER. 269 



The bill, feet and eyes as above; the general colour of the upper parts is 

 brownish-grey, varying in different individuals in intensity of tint. The 

 wings and tail are as in summer. Throat greyish-white, sides of the head 

 and neck, and fore part of the latter, pale brownish-grey, faintly streaked 

 with darker, as are the sides; the rest of the lower parts white, with a few 

 streaks on the breast. 



THE CURLEW SANDPIPER. 



s- Tringa subarquata, Temm. 

 PLATE CCCXXXIIL— Adult and Young. 



In the course of my extensive rambles along our coasts and in the interior, 

 I have seen only three birds of this species, all of which I have kept with 

 care, considering the Cape Sandpiper or Pigmy Curlew as the rarest of its 

 genus with us. It appears to resort to particular districts; two of my birds 

 were shot at Great Egg Harbour in New Jersey, in the spring of 1829, the 

 other on Long Island near Sandy Hook. No other birds were near them, 

 and I approached them without much difficulty. They were wading along 

 the shores up to the knees, picking up floating garbage and sand-worms. In 

 their stomachs I found fragments of minute shells, slender red worms, and 

 bits of marine plants. The one killed on Long Island was a fine male in full 

 plumage, and from it I made the figure that has been engraved in the plate. 

 The others were females or young birds of the preceding year. One, in 

 plain plumage, was drawn; the other, mottled beneath with patches of white 

 and dull rufous, I considered as a female which might perhaps have perfected 

 its colouring that season. I have seen a few specimens in New York, and 

 two in Boston; and my friend John Bachman has one or two in his posses- 

 sion. 



Tringa suBARauATA, Bonap. Syn., p. 317. 



Cape Curlew or Sandpiper, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 104. 



Curlew Sandpiper, Tringa subarquata, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 444. 



Accidental on the Florida coast in winter, rare on those of the middle dis- 

 tricts. Breeds in high latitudes. Migratory. 

 Adult Male. 

 Vol. V. 38 



