270 SANDPIPER. 



28.— SWISS SANDPIPER. 



Tringa Helvetica, Ltd. Orn. ii. 728. Lin. i. 250. Gm. Lin. i. 676. Phil. Trans. 



lxii. p. 412. Faun. Helv. 

 Vanellus Helveticus, Bris. v. 106. t. 10. f. 1. Id. 8vo. ii. 239. 

 Charadriushyniomelus, Pall, reise, iii. 699. No. 26. 

 Vanneau de Suisse, Buf. viii. 60. PI. enl. 853. 

 Swiss Sandpiper, Gen. Syn. v. 167. Id. Sup. 248. 



LENGTH eleven inches. Bill one inch and a quarter, black, 

 swelling at the point ; forehead and neck white, feathers of the last 

 dashed with brown down the shafts ; hind head spotted with black 

 and white ; cheeks, fore part of the neck, breast, and belly, black ; 

 thighs and vent white ; back and wing coverts the same, spotted 

 with black ; prime quills black ; under wing coverts white, but the 

 long ones, nearest the body, are dusky black ; tail white, crossed 

 with narrow bars of black, fewest in number on the outer feathers ; 

 legs black ; hind toe small. That described in the Phil. Trans, had 

 a mixture of white, lunated spots, with the black on the under parts, 

 which Dr. Forster suspected to be a young bird. 



We received, some years since, from Hudson's Bay, one of these 

 birds, supposed a female : it had the upper parts brown, mottled 

 with dusky white ; sides of the head and fore part of the neck white, 

 sparingly marked with brown spots ; belly white, with longish 

 streaks of black ; the ends of the feathers being black for some 

 length ; quills, rump, and tail, as in the other ; at the inner angle 

 of the wing the same long black feathers, like under scapulars as 

 noticed in the Grey Sandpiper ; in short, this reputed female was so 

 like the Grey Sandpiper, that the belly excepted, which in the latter 

 is not marked with black, one must suppose them to be mere 

 Varieties of each other. 



The Swiss Sandpiper is found on the coasts of Connecticut and 

 Hudson's Bay, visiting the latter in spring, and feeding on berries, 



