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PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
reasons are adduced on the opposite side of the question. With regard to the 
generic characters there is not the slightest difficulty. The bird presents the 
closest affinity to the type of the genus Actodromas, ( T. minuta Leisl.,) and 
is very different from either Tringa or Pelidna, in both of which it has been 
placed. 
This diminutive species, in form, color and general habits, is very closely 
allied to the preceding, of which it is in fact a perfect miniature. As far as 
my own observation extends, the same remarks with regard to the manners, 
voice, flight, &c., apply equally well to this species. It even possesses the 
curious habit mentioned under the preceding bird. Though so much smaller, 
its note is fully as loud and piercing. The chief difference is, that in the fall 
the Least Sandpipers collect in flocks of considerable extent, and that they are 
found on sandy beaches oftener than are the Pectoral Sandpipers. Neverthe- 
less, its favorite situations are low muddy flats, and the ditches that intersect 
marshy and sedgy fields, where it finds an abundance of its favorite food. In 
Labrador I think I never observed them in any other situations. They search 
for food with remarkable industry and perseverance, carefully examining with 
their delicate bills every inch of ground they pass over ; while thus engaged 
they may be approached within a few feet without showing any signs of fear. 
Together with the A. Bonapartei and the Ereunetes pusillus, they are known 
by the common name of “ Peeps.” On the first of September they had not 
left the country, being still abundant. 
Actodromas (Heteropygia) Bonapartei (Schl.) Cassin. — Bonaparte’s Sand- 
piper. “Peep.” 
Pelidna cinclus, var. Say, Long’s Exped. 1823, i. 172. 
Tringa Schinzii, “ Brehm.” Bon. Syn. 1828. [Nec Brehm.] fide Gen. Rep. 
Aud. Birds Amer. 1842, v. 275, pi. 335, et al. Auct. Amer. 
Tringa Bonapartei, Schlegel, Rev. Grit. Ois. Eur. 1844, 89. 
Tringa ( Actodromas ) Bonapartei , Cassin, Gen. Rep. 722. 
Actodromas ( Heteropygia ) Bonapartei , Cones, Monogr. Tring. N. A., in Pr. A. 
N. S. Ph. July, 1861, 199. 
Audubon, in his account of this species, remarks : “ Those procured in Lab- 
rador were shot in the beginning of August, and were all young birds, appa- 
rently about to take their departure.” I met it for the first time on the 30th 
of July ; but on the first of September, when I left the country, they were still 
as numerous as ever. They are found in great abundance on the rocky shores 
of Labrador, where covered with sea-weed and interspersed with muddy flats 
and shallow pools, in which last the birds wade quite up to the breast. I have 
also frequently seen them in a situation where I never found any other Sand- 
piper — on the large masses of rock sloping down abruptly to the water, green 
and slippery from the continued falling of the spray. They seem to be very 
fond of these locations, and I seldom passed one without seeing several of 
these “ peeps ” running nimbly about ; and I have actually approached with- 
in three or four feet of them, as they stood motionless regarding me with 
curious eye. Of all the Sandpipers this is the most gentle and unsuspecting ; 
they seem utterly regardless of the presence of man, and do not intermit their 
occupation of searching for food, though the observer may be standing within 
a few feet of them. When startled they emit a low soft 1 1 meet ” very differ- 
ent from that of any other Sandpiper, and fly off in a very compact flock. If 
a part of them be killed, the gunner may commit equal havoc with his second 
barrel, as after a few cirolings they fly past, or alight again on the same spot. 
They fly rapidly, in a rather unsteady manner, alternately showing the 
under and upper parts ; and they may always be recognized in flight by the 
conspicuously white upper tail coverts. They usually associate with the 
• [Ang. 
