THE CURLEW SANDPIPER. 
269 
The bill, feet and eyes as above ; the general colour of the upper parts 
is brownish-grey, varying in different individuals in intensity of tint. The 
wings and tail are as in summer. Throat greyish-white, sides of the head 
and neck, and fore part of the latter, pale brownish-grey, faintly streaked 
with darker, as are the sides ; the rest of the lower -parts white, with a few 
streaks on the breast. 
THE CURLEW SANDPIPER. 
Tringa subarquata, Temm. 
PLATE CCCXXXHI. — Adult and Young. 
In the course of my extensive rambles along our coasts and in the interior, 
I have seen only three birds of this species, all of which I have kept with 
care, considering the Cape Sandpiper or Pigmy Curlew as the rarest of its 
genus with us. It appears to resort to particular districts ; two of my birds 
were shot at Great Egg Harbour in New Jersey, in the spring of 1829, the 
other on Long Island near Sandy Hook. No other birds were near them, 
and I approached them without much difficulty. They were wading along 
the shores up to the knees, picking up floating garbage and sand-worms. In 
their stomachs I found fragments of minute shells, slender red-worms, and 
bits of marine plants. The one killed on Long Island was a fine male in full 
plumage, and from it I made the figure that has been engraved in the plate. 
The others were females or young birds of the preceding year. One, in 
plain plumage, was drawn ; the other, mottled beneath with patches of 
white and dull rufous, I considered as a female which might perhaps have 
perfected its colouring that season. I have seen a few specimens in New 
York, and two in Boston ; and my friend John Bachman has one or two 
in his possession. 
Tringa subarquata, Bonap. Syn., p. 317. 
Cape Curlew or Sandpiper, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 104. 
Curlew Sandpiper, Tringa subarquata, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 444. 
Accidental on the Florida coast in winter, rare on those of the middle 
districts. Breeds in high latitudes. Migratory. 
. Adult Male. 
Vol. Y. 
38 
