194 
CHARADRI I FORMES 
256. Solitary Sandpiper, le chevalier solitaire. Tringa solitaria. L, 8-40. 
A small Sandpiper of same general colour design as the Yellow-legs but much smaller; 
back darker, less mottled with light; rump same colour 
as back, less white in tail. 
Distinctions. Back dark brown, almost black with 
slight green sheen, but finely speckled with white, ochre, 
or rusty-ochre spots. The best specific distinction is 
barring of the axillar feathers under the wing (Figure 
276), which occurs in no other comparable species. 
Field Marks. A small black and white sandpiper 
with the same nodding habits as the two Yellow-legs 
(which see), but not the constant body- teetering of the 
Spotted Sandpiper, with which it is most likely to be 
confused. It nods continually but teeters only occasion- 
ally, instead of the contrary. It is also without the white 
bars on the wing that are so conspicuous in that species 
in flight, but shows more white barring on the tail (Figure 
275l>). The flight is a long, sweeping wing-beat more like 
that of the Yellow-legs than with stiff, down-curved wings like the Spotted. 
Figure 276 
Barred axillara of Solitary Sand- 
piper; natural size. 
Nesting. The nesting of this species was unknown until it was discovered recently 
that it builds in old nests of robins and other birds in bushes at some distance from the 
ground, as does the Green Sandpiper of Europe. 
Distribution. North and South America. Presumably breeding across the con- 
tinent, but actual nesting instances are rare. Northern and western Alberta and northern 
Saskatchewan have the only well-substantiated records. In migration more or less com- 
mon throughout southern Canada. 
Figure 277 
Marbled primaries of Western Solitary Sandpiper, from below; 
natural size. 
SUBSPECIES . Two subspecies of the Solitary Sandpiper are recognized. The 
Eastern Solitary Sandpiper (le Chevalier solitaire de i’Est) Tringa solitaria solitaria occupy- 
ing most of the continent and the Western Solitary (le Chevalier solitaire de 1‘Ouest) Tringa 
solitaria cimiamomea from the eastern sides of the mountains west. In migration both 
forms occur throughout British Columbia and Alberta and the breeding distribution of 
the two forms is not well defined. The Western Solitary is characterized by slightly 
larger size; white spotting on back being more or less tinged with rusty-ochre in juvenility, 
and white marbling or blotching on base of under surface of first primaries (Figure 277). 
This latter, although it may not be present in all cinnamomea, never occurs in Eastern 
solitaria. None of these subspecific characteristics is absolutely determinative and an 
average of them should be sometimes taken in identification. 
As implied by the name, this species is a rather solitary bird, being 
found, even in migration time, in individuals or pairs rather than in flocks. 
It is a mud haunter and is the only wader except the Spotted Sandpiper 
that is commonly seen about such small waters as drainage ditches, or 
along the edges of flooded woods. 
259. Wandering Tattler, le chevalier errant. Heteroscelus incanus. L, 10-50. 
A rather large, grey wader. The adult is an even slate-grey above, from tail to crown, 
without pattern or design. Below and flanks white, closely crossed with irregular bars of 
the same colour as the back, changing to fine stripes up foreneck and sparse speckles on 
throat. The juvenile is similar, but the barring below is replaced by a suffusion of even 
light grey on flanks, across breast, and up foreneck. 
