358 BAR TRAM'S SANDPIPER. 



BAETKAM'S SANDPIPER. (Tringa Bartramia) 



PLATE LIX.— Fig. 2. 



PeaWs Museum, No. 4040. 

 TOTANUS BARTRAMIUS— Tiwilvsck.* 



Totanus Bartramius, Ord's reprint of Wils. vol. vii. p. 67. — Chevalier a longue 

 queue, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 650. — Totanus Bartramius, Bonap. Synop. 

 p. 325. 



This bird being, as far as I can discover, a new species, 

 undescribed by any former author, I have honoured it with 

 the name of my very worthy friend, near whose botanic 

 gardens, on the banks of the river Schuylkill, I first found it. 

 On the same meadows I have since shot several other indi- 

 viduals of the species, and have thereby had an opportunity of 

 taking an accurate drawing as well as description of it. 



Unlike most of their tribe, these birds appeared to prefer 

 running about among the grass, feeding on beetles and other 

 winged insects. There were three or four in company ; they 

 seemed extremely watchful, silent, and shy, so that it was 

 always with extreme difficulty I could approach them. 



These birds are occasionally seen there during the months 

 of August and September, but whether they breed near, I. have 

 not been able to discover. Having never met with them on 

 the sea-shore, I am persuaded that their principal residence 

 is in the interior, in meadows and such like places. They 

 run with great rapidity, sometimes spreading their tail and 



* The discovery of this species, I believe, is due to our author, who 

 dedicated it to his venerable friend Bartram. It is admitted by 

 Temminck as an occasional straggler upon the Dutch and German 

 coasts, and is mentioned as having been only once met with by himself. 

 Bonaparte asserts, on the authority of Say, that it is very common in 

 some districts of the extensive Missouri prairies ; thus confirming the 

 opinion of Wilson, that its residence is in the interior, and not on the 

 sea-coast, like most of its congeners. The lengthened form, more con- 

 spicuous in the wedge shape of the tail, is at variance with the greater 

 part of the Totani, and reminds us of the killdeer plover.— Ed. 



