WILDLIFE OF THE ATLANTIC COAST SALT MARSHES 19 



(Squatarola squatarola) , easily recognizable by the black underparts 

 of the breeding dress, is nondescript streaky gray in other plumages. 

 Under proper conditions a group of black feathers may be seen under 

 the wing, and they serve positively to identify the species. The 

 bird, 10 to 13 inches long, is the largest of American plovers. The 

 characteristic flight call is a clear ringing pee-oo-ee. The black- 

 bellied plover occurs on the beaches, mud flats, and salt meadows 

 during a rather long-drawn-out migration season. It is one of the 

 species that from their extended migrations have been dubbed "globe- 

 spanners;" it breeds on the Arctic coast of North America and 

 winters as far south as Brazil. 



Curlews are shore birds with long or very long bills that have a 

 decided downward curvature. Of the three species formerly fre- 

 quenting the Atlantic coast, one, the Eskimo curlew (Phaeopus bo- 

 realis), seems to be extinct, and another, the long-billed (Numenius 

 americanus), is quite rare. Intermediate in size and length of bill, 

 the Hudsonian curlew (P. hudsonicus) has benefited by the protec- 

 tion afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and during 

 migration may be seen in considerable numbers on the Middle At- 

 lantic coast from New Jersey to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The 

 bird is variegated with brown and white, darker above, paler below, 

 and is 15 to 18 inches long. A common musical whistle cur-lew tells 

 how these birds got their name. It is another great traveler, breed- 

 ing in Arctic North America and wintering south to southern Chile. 



Among more familiar shore birds to be seen in and about salt 

 marshes are the yellowlegs, dowitcher, pectoral sandpiper, and least 

 sandpiper. The two species of yellowlegs are colored alike, (1) 

 in being true to their name — the long legs being bright yellow — 

 and (2) in being dusky, speckled with paler above, and whitish 

 below, more or less streaked or marbled with dusky. Their bills 

 are of moderate length (one and one-third times the head) in pro- 

 portion to the size of the birds. The greater yellowlegs (Tot an us 

 melanoleucus) (pi. 3, B) is 12 to 15 inches long, and the lesser 

 yellowlegs (T. flavipes) 9 to 11 inches. Neither bird breeds on the 

 Atlantic coast, but both may be seen there in migration. The 

 greater yellowlegs winters from South Carolina southward, and the 

 lesser yellowlegs entirely south of the United States. They are 

 easily alarmed and take to wing uttering repeated loud, ringing, 

 whistling cries, a habit that in old hunting days gave them the 

 name "tattlers." 



The dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) is a plump-bodied bird, 

 with the bill more than twice as long as the head. In spring the 

 underside of the body is largely cinnamon, and in winter gray; the 

 rump is largely white; and the tail is barred black and white. The 

 dowitcher is far less excitable than the yellowlegs and may some- 

 times be closely approached. Dowitchers remain by preference in 

 compact flocks and probe the mud industriously with their long 

 bills. 



The pectoral sandpiper {Phobia melanotos) (fig. 8), or grassbird. 

 8 to 9y 2 inches in length, is a particular habitue of areas of short 

 grass, soppy with water. The bill is a little longer than the head, 

 the top of head streaked brownish black and light chestnut, the 

 back feathers brownish black edged paler, the upper breast pale 



