STILT SANDPIPER, 
1 45 
STILT SANDPIPER. 
Micropalama himantopus. 
, Char. Bill nearly as long as a Snipe’s; legs much longer. Upper 
parts mottled gray, black, and bay, or buff ; wings darker ; upper tail- 
coverts white, barred with dusky; tail ashy gray ; under parts dull white, 
streaked and barred with dusky. In winter the prevailing color of the 
upper parts is ashy gray. Length about 9 inches. 
Nest. Near the sea-shore or on border of a lake, — a slight depres- 
sion scantily lined with leaves and grass. It is sometimes hid in a tus- 
sock of grass. 
^SS^- 3~4 ! ligl't drab or buffy white, marked with rich brown and 
purplish gray; 1.45 X T.oo. 
Nuttall wrote of this as of three species, — Stilt Sandpiper, 
Long-legged Sandpiper, and Douglas’ Stilt Sandpiper. These 
names apply to but one bird. 
The present species was first described by Bonaparte in 1826, 
but until within recent years it was thought to be exceedingly rare. 
As late as t868 there was no record of its occurrence in New Eng- 
land, and even in 1881 the announcement that my friend Fred 
Daniel had secured one of three examples he had discovered on 
the fiats near St. John, N. B., was hailed as “ important.” 
We now know that the bird is not at all rare, and that its former 
apparent scarcity was due to its rapid migrations. 
The Stilt Sandpiper breeds in the Arctic regions, and winters on 
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and southward to Brazil and 
Peru. On the passage north and south it makes long flights and 
a few short halts ; but small flocks have been seen at numerous 
localities on the Atlantic coast and along the Mississippi valley 
route. Several have been taken on the shores of the Great Lakes. 
As far as its habits and manners are known, it appears to resem- 
ble somewhat the Dowitcher and the Yellow-legs, with which it 
frequently associates. It walks sedately like a Curlew, and has 
little of the vivacity so conspicuous in the Sandpiper. Our bird 
generally feeds along the margin of the beach, wading into the 
water and following the edge of the wave as the water flows out 
and in. It often probes into the sand, and acts as though securing 
something by suction. On dissection, evidence has been found 
that the bird’s food was at least partially composed of small shell- 
fish and worms. When disturbed, it utters a sharp tweet tweet 
before flying. 
VOL. II. — 10 
