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PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
reflections, and each feather with a lighter border. Greater and lesser wing 
coverts, tertials and scapulars edged and tipped with white. Secondaries 
mostly white. Primaries deep dusky, the shafts dull white except at tip, where 
they are black. Upper tail coverts and central tail feathers brownish black 
with purplish reflections, the outer pair of the former white barred with dusky. 
Lateral tail feathers light ashy. Jugulum and breast bluish ash, each feather 
of the latter edged with white, and the ash extending along the sides beneath 
ihe wings. Rest of under pans white, immaculate. Legs, feet and bill at base 
light flesh-color; rest of bill greenish black. Young in September. Upper parts 
much the color of the adult, but with each feather broadly edged and tipped 
with light buff or reddish yellow. Light edging of wing coverts ashy instead 
of pure white. Under parts everywhere thickly mottled with ashy and dusky, 
deepest on the breast and jugulum. 
Length 8 to 9, extent 15 to 16, wing about 5, tail 2-6. Bill above (average) 
1*2 ; tarsus -9; middle toe 1-1 ; tibia bare -45. 
Habitat. — Atlantic coast from Greenland to Florida. Europe. 
Except in the very immature plumage given above, this Sandpiper varies but 
little in color, the difference between adult and young being chiefly in the 
depth and intensity of the tints. As the bird advances toward maturity, the 
upper parts become darker and more lustrous, the edgings of the wing coverts 
and scapulars more conspicuous and better defined. The mottling of the under 
parts is gradually restricted till it forms the well defined, uniform dark ash of 
the jugulum and breast, the sides being always sparsely streaked, and the rest 
of the under parts white, immaculate. The youngest specimens, however, show 
a very decided greenish or purplish lustre. While the length and proportions 
of the tibia, tarsus and toes are remarkably constant, the size of the whole bird, 
and more particularly that of the bill, varies greatly. The difference in the 
length of the bill of five specimens now before me amounts to three-tenths of 
an inch, and in that of the whole bird to considerably more than an inch. A 
specimen from Greenland is the smallest, having the wing four-tenths of an 
inch shorter than in one from New Hampshire. In this specimen the legs and 
feet are dusky-green instead of flesh-colored, and the bill is scarcely lighter at 
base. 
Owing to the striking peculiarities of form and color which this species pre- 
sents, there has been, contrary to what is usually the case with the Sandpipers 
known to the earlier authors, comparatively little confusion regarding it. As 
far as I have been able to ascertain, it has been considered as a true Tringa by 
all authors except Bonaparte (who refers it to Pelidna) up to the time of the 
General Report, in which work it is very properly made the type of a distinct 
genus. Most authors have also adopted the original specific appellation given 
by Briinnich in U7G4; and I have not met with any other name in works pub- 
lished since 1819, in which year it is given as u Le tringa cendre du Canada, 
Tringa Canadensis , Lath.” by Vieillot. There can be no doubt with regard to 
the bird which is referred to under this head; for after a description which 
applies well to the usual immature plumage, (not that of the very young given 
in the diagnosis,) the author adds, ‘‘mais ce qui distingue cet oiseau de ceux 
de son genre, c’est d’avoir les jambes couvertes de plumes jusqu’ au talon, et 
me me au-dessous,” — a feature which exclusively characterizes the A. mariiima. 
Tringa undata of Briinnich, Gmelin, &c., is considered as the young of this 
species in the plumage given in the diagnosis, where the light borders of the 
feathers of the upper parts and the transverse mottling of the lower give to the 
bird a somewhat wavy appearance. Tringa striata of Linnaeus, Gmelin, &c., is 
generally supposed to refer to this species. Pallas gives it as Trynga arqua - 
tella, an appellation from which the generic name is derived. 
ANOYLOCHEILUS Kaup. 
Erolia , Vieillot, Analyse, 1816, 55 ; Typus Scolopaz subarquata Guld., secundum 
G. R. Gray et Gen. Rep. ( JErolia , Vieilh, Gal. 1834 = Erolia.) 
