36 
ASH-COLORED SANDPIPER. 
TRINGJl CINEREJl. 
[Plate LVII. — Fig. 2.] 
Lath. Ind. Orn.^ Tringa cinerea^ p. 733, No. 25, grisea^ No. 23; p. 732, rnsviat No. 22; 
p. 737, australis, No. 40; p. 738, Canutus? No. 44.— The Knot, Arct. Zool. No. 384; 
Ash-colored Sandpiper, Ibid. No. 386.— Tem. Man. d^Orn. p. 627.— Peale’s Museum, 
No. 4060. 
THE regularly disposed concentric semicircles of white and 
dark brown that mark the upper parts of the plumage of this spe- 
cies, distinguish it from all others, and give it a very neat appear- 
ance. In activity it is superior to the preceding ; and traces the 
flowing and recession of the waves along the sandy beach, with 
great nimbleness, wading and searching among the loosened par- 
ticles for its favorite food, which is a small thin oval bivalve shell- 
fish, of a white or pearl color, and not larger than the seed of an 
apple. These usually lie at a short depth below the surface ; but 
in some places are seen at low water in heaps, like masses of wet 
grain, in quantities of more than a bushel together. During the 
latter part of summer and autumn, these minute shell-fish consti- 
tute the food of almost all those busy flocks that run with such 
activity along the sands, among the flowing and retreating waves. 
They are universally swallowed whole ; but the action of the bird’s 
stomach, assisted by the shells themselves, soon reduces them to 
a pulp. If we may judge from their effects they must be extreme- 
ly nutritious, for almost all those tribes that feed on them are at 
this season mere lumps of fat. Digging for these in the hard sand 
would be a work of considerable labour, whereas when the parti- 
cles are loosened by the flowing of the sea, the birds collect them 
with great ease and dexterity. It is amusing to observe with what 
