264 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS. GENUS TRINGITES. 
Tringiies, Cat. J. f. O. 1856, p. 418. 
Type, T. sub-ruficolHs (Vieill.). 
In most of the Snipes and Sandpipers the bill is longer than 
the tarsus, but in the present genus the bill is very short and 
does not equal the tarsus in length. The peculiar black 
marbling on the inner web of the quills is also a peculiar feature 
of the genus, which contains but a single American species, 
which sometimes strays to Europe, and thus finds a place 
within the British List. 
I. THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. TRINGITES 
SUB-RUFICOLLIS. 
Tringa suhruficolHs, Vieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxxiv. p. 461: 
(1816). 
Tringa nifescens, Vieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxxiv. p. 470 
(1819); Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 194 (1852); Lilford, Col. 
Fig. Brit. B. part xix. (1891). 
Tringites rufescens, Dresser, B. Eur. viii. p. iii. pi. 561 (1876) ; 
B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 172 (1883); Saunders, ed. 
Yarrell’s Brit. B. iii. p. 435 (1883) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. 
B. iii. p. 222 (1885); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 1:87 
(1889). 
Tringites suh-ruficoUis (Vieill.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiv. 
p. 521 (1896). 
Adult Male. — General colour above mottled, the feathers 
being black, with sandy-coloured edges, the scapulars like 
the back ; the lower-back, rump, and upper tail-coverts like 
the rest of the back, but the sandy margins deeper in colour 
and not so distinct, the lateral upper tail-coverts being whitish, 
with a sub-terminal line of brown; outer lesser wing-coverts 
black, fringed with white ; the remainder of the coverts brown, 
with blackish centres and pale edges, the greater series with 
some irregular sub-terminal lines of blackjsh ; bastard-wing, 
primary-coverts, and primaries brown, tipped with white, with 
a sub-terminal shade or bar of black, the inner webs marbled 
with black ; the secondaries white, marbled with black near 
