NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 
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* plumage of the adult and of the young of the first autumn. These represent 
the two extremes ; but birds may be found of every intermediate stage. In 
t respect to form, the bird varies chiefly in the length of the bill and shape of 
the tail. The bill in adult specimens is always longer than the tarsus, but 
being dependent somewhat on age, may in young birds be found equal to the 
tarsus, or even a little shorter. The tail, usually nearly or quite even, is some- 
times in immature birds considerably doubly emarginate ; the central feathers, 
however, are never pointed and projecting as in Actodromas. As usual among 
the Tringece , the tarsus and toes do not differ much in length or proportions. 
Tringa canutus is mentioned in the very earliest ornithological writings, and, 
as is usually the case with those species which vary much in plumage, has 
received a great variety of names. The older authors instituted nominal 
species on almost every change of plumage which it undergoes; but still, these 
stages are now so well known, that there is little difficulty in identifying the 
descriptions. The “ grisled ” and “ freckled ” sandpipers of Latham and Gmelin, 
T. grisea and ncevia , as well as, in all probability, the T. australis , Gm., are to be 
referred to intermediate stages of the present bird. But it is the plumage of 
the first autumn which has given rise to the most firmly established nominal 
species, the T. cinerea , Auct. ; it is as different as possible from that of the 
adult, and at the same time is marked in character and presents but few evi- 
dences of immaturity. It is not a little singular that as late as 1813 Wilson 
should give the bird a new name, (T. rufa,) and say that “of this prettily- 
marked species I can find no description;” there being already at that date no 
less than seven different appellations for the bird. Tringa canutus of Linnaeus 
seems to have priority over all others, and is the name now in general use. 
CALIDRIS Cuvier. 
Calidris , Cuvier, 1799 — 1800, (fide G. R. Gray;) 1805, (fide Gen. Rep.) Nec 
Calidris , Cuv. Regn. An. 1817. 
Arenaria , Meyer, 1810, (fide G. R. Gray.) Nec Linnaei. 
Char. — Bill stout, straight, about equal to the head or tarsus; tip thick- 
ened, expanded and rather hard, the culmen just posterior to it somewhat 
depressed and hollowed. Nostrils situated far forward. Wings long, pointed ; 
tail short, doubly emarginate, central feathers projecting. Tibia bare for two- 
thirds the length of the tarsus ; toes very short and widely margined. Hind 
toe wanting. (General characters of Tringa proper, but without hind toe.) 
A genus well marked by the absence of the hind toe, a feature entirely 
peculiar among Tringece,. In other respects it comes nearest to Tringa proper, 
with which it has a very close affinity, the bill, tarsus and toes, as well as the 
tibia, having much the same proportions. The toes, however, are even shorter, 
and the tail is doubly emarginate, a feature scarcely seen in Tringa. The bill 
in its short and stout proportions has much the general appearance of that of 
Charadrius , which fact, in connection with absence of the hind toe, has caused 
the single species of the genus to be referred to the plovers by some of the 
older authors. In all other respects, however, as well as in general habits, the 
bird is a true Sandpiper. 
According to Gray, Calidris of Cuvier, of 1799 — 1800, is founded upon the 
T. arenaria , L. The name must therefore be employed in the present con- 
nection, though in 1817 Cuvier gives T. canutus , L. as the type of the genus. 
Arenaria of Meyer, of 1810, based, according to Gray, upon the T. arenaria , is 
preoccupied in Botany, that being the name of an old Linnasan genus of plants. 
Calidris arenaria Illiger. — Sauderling. 
Tringa arenaria , Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1766, i. 251. Audubon, Orn. Biog. 1839, 
iii. 231, v. 582; id. Syn. 1839, 237: id. Birds Amer. 1842, v. 287, tab. 338. 
Schlegel, Rev. Crit. 1846, 90. 
1861 .] 
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