236 
PRiECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLJS. 
black ; lateral upper tail-coverts white, streaked with dusky. Middle tail-feathers dusky, edged 
with whitish ; other rectrices deep brownish gray, distinctly bordered with white. A whitish 
superciliary stripe, sharply defining the cinnamon of the crown ; jugulum very pale brownish gray 
sparsely streaked laterally and anteriorly only ; remaining lower parts white, the sides with sparse 
V-shaped markings, and the lower tail-coverts with streaks of dusky grayish. Young, first plum- 
age : Above, chiefly blight rusty ochraceous, the feathers black centrally, the outer scapulars and 
interscapulars edged terminally with white ; whole pileuin bright ferruginous, broadly streaked 
with black, bounded sharply on each side by a white, finely streaked superciliary stripe ; rump 
and middle upper tail-coverts brownish black, the feathers bordered terminally with rusty ; outer 
upper tail-coverts white, with medial streaks of black ; middle tail-feathers black, edged laterally 
with rufous ; other rectrices dusky, bordered with rusty whitish. Cheeks whitish, finely streaked 
with dusky ; jugulum, breast, and sides, anteriorly, deep rusty buff, finely streaked anteriorly and 
laterally with dusky ; remaining lower parts, including the throat, white, the lower tail-coverts 
streaked with dusky. “Iris hazel ; bill black at tip, changing to dingy greenish yellow on 
basal third of lower mandible and base of upper; feet and tarsi dull greenish yellow” (Nelson, 
MS.). 1 
Wing, 4.90-5.50 ; culmen, .95-1.00 ; tarsus, 1.10-1.25 ; middle toe, .88-. 95. 
This species resembles very closely the common A. maculata, but differs constantly in several 
respects. As to proportions, the bill is decidedly shorter and more slender, and the tarsus slightly 
longer, while the wing is about the same length. The middle tail-feathers are narrower and more 
acuminate. The colors are nearly the same, but the rectrices are darker, the breast almost or quite 
unspotted centrally and posteriorly, and the crown decidedly rufous. 
A specimen from New South Wales, which appears to be this species (No. 15313, U. S. Expl. 
Exp.), but labelled “ Tringa auritci (?), Lath.,” differs notably from an adult from Australia, re- 
ceived from Mr. J. E. Harting, in the following particulars : The posterior and lateral parts of 
the breast have coarse, irregular markings of dark brown, many of these markings being V-shaped, 
others irregularly sagittate or even transverse ; these markings are continued, but increased in size 
along the sides to the crissum, and even the abdomen has a few small markings; the crown is not 
conspicuously rusty, neither is this color there bounded sharply by the light superciliary stripe. 
Whether this specimen represents the same species, we are not quite prepared to say, not having 
sufficient material at hand. 
Actodromas minutilla. 
THE LEAST SANDPIPER. 
Tringa minutilla, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XXXIV. 1819, 452. — Coues, Key, 1872, 254 ; Check List, 
1873, no. 418 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 482. 
Actodromas minutilla, Bonap. Compt. Rend. 1856. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 538. — 
Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 614. 
Tringa pusilla, Wils. Am. Orn. V. 1813, 32, pi. 37, f. 4 (nec Linn.). — Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 
1831, 386. — Aiid. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 180, pi. 320 ; Synop. 1839, 237 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 280, 
pi. 337. 
Tringa Wilsonii, Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 121. — Cass, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 721. — Baird, 
Cat. N. Ain. B. 1859, no. 532. 
Tringa nana, Light. Nomencl. 1854, 92. 
“ Tringa georgica, Licht.” (Gray). 
Hab. The whole of America, but breeding (so far as known) only north of the United States ; 
accidental in Europe. 
Sp. Char. Adult, summer plumage : Back and scapulars black, the feathers bordered and 
somewhat barred (not continuously, and mostly beneath the surface) with rusty ochraceous, the 
tips of some of the feathers often whitish ; rump and middle upper tail-coverts brownish black ; 
lateral upper tail-coverts white, with wedge-shaped markings of grayish ; middle tail-feathers 
1 Swinhoe (“ Ibis,” 1863, p. 412) says : “Apical half of bill purplish black, basal half olive-brown, 
with tinge of flesh-color ; legs yellowish olive, with black claws.” 
