36 



ASH-COLORED SANDPIPER. 

 TRINGA CINEREA. 

 [Plate LVIL— Fig. 2.] 



Ara. Xool. p. 474, JVo. SS6 — Bewick, II, p. 103 ^Peaie's Museum, A^o. 4060. 



THE regularly disposed concentric semicircles of white and 

 dark brown that mark the upper parts of the plumage of this spe- 

 cies, distinguish it from all others, and give it a very neat appear- 

 ance. In activity it is superior to the preceding; and traces the 

 flowing and recession of the waves along the sandy beach, with 

 great nimbleness, wading and searching among the loosened par- 

 ticles for its favorite food, which is a small thin oval bivalve shell 

 fish, of a white or pearl color, and not larger than the seed of an 

 apple. These usually lie at a short depth below the surface; but 

 in some places are seen at low water in heaps, like masses of wet 

 grain, in quantities of more than a bushel together. During the 

 latter part of summer and autumn, these minute shell fish consti- 

 tute the food of almost all those busy flocks that run with such 

 activity along the sands, among the flowing and retreating waves. 

 They are universally swallowed whole; but the action of the bird^s 

 stomach, assisted by the shells themselves, soon reduces them to 

 a pulp. If we may judge from their effects they must be extreme- 

 ly nutritious, for almost all those tribes that feed on them are at 

 this season mere lumps of fat. Digging for these in the hard sand 

 would be a work of considerable labour, whereas when the parti- 

 cles are loosened by the flowing of the sea, the birds collect them 

 with great ease and dexterity. It is amusing to observe with what 

 adroitness they follow and elude the tumbling surf, while at the 

 same time they seem wholly intent on collecting their food. 



