SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. 
68 
The Esquimaux curlew is eighteen inches long, and 
thirty-two inches in extent ; the bill, which is four inches 
and a half long, is black towards the point, and a pale 
purplish flesh colour near the base ; upper part of the 
head, dark brown, divided by a narrow stripe of brownish 
white ; over each eye extends a broad line of pale drab ; 
iris, dark coloured ; hind part of the neck, streaked with 
dark brown ; fore part and whole breast, very pale 
brown ; upper part of the body, pale drab, centred and 
barred with dark brown, and edged with spots of white 
on the exterior vanes ; three first primaries, black, with 
white shafts ; rump and tail-coverts, barred with dark 
brown ; belly, white ; vent, the same, marked with zig- 
zag lines of brown ; whole lining of the wing, beautifully 
barred with brown on a dark cream ground ; legs and 
naked thighs, a pale lead colour. 
GENUS XLIX. — TBINGA, Brissqn. 
SUBGENUS I HEMIPALMA , BONAPARTE. 
217. TRINGA SEMIPALMATA , WILSON. 
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. 
WILSON, PLATE LXIII. FIG. IV. 
This is one of the smallest of its tribe, and seems 
to have been entirely overlooked, or confounded with 
another which it much resembles, {tringa pusilla,') and 
with whom it is often found associated. 
Its half webbed feet, however, are sufficient marks 
of distinction between the two. It arrives and departs 
with the ruddy plover ; flies in flocks with the stints, 
purres, and a few others ,* and is sometimes seen 
at a considerable distance from the sea, on the sandy 
shores of our fresh water lakes. On the 23d of 
September I met with a small flock of these birds in 
Burlington Bay, on Lake Champlain. They are nume- 
rous along the sea shores of New Jersey, but retire to 
the south on the approach of cold weather. 
This species is six inches long, and twelve in extent; 
