TRINGOIDES MACULAR1US. 
391 
GENUS X. TRINGOIDES. THE TILTING SANDPIPERS. « 
Gen. Cii. Bill, about as long as head, slender, not curved nor expanded at tip. Gape, not wide. Head, not large, and 
neck, moderate. Marginal indentations. two. 
The sternum is narrow, about as wide as height of keel which does not exceed the length of coracoids. The two mar¬ 
ginal indentations are wide and deep. Legs, short and there is a prominent membrane between the outer and middle toes. 
Tail, moderate. Other characters do not differ strikingly from those given under the two preceding genera. Sexes, sim¬ 
ilar. There is but one species within our limits. 
TRIINGOIDES MACULARIUS. 
Spotted Sandpiper. 
Tringoides macularius Gray, List; 1849. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather slender. Size, medium. Tongue, long, thin, not horny, narrowing gradually to tip which is 
pointed. 
Color. Adult. Above, dark greenish-brown, having a greenish gloss, banded and spotted, excepting on primaries, 
with dark-brown. Base and tips of secondaries, inner primaries, tips of greater wing coverts, line from bill over eye, and 
under parts, white, the latter marked everywhere with rounded spots of greenish-brown. Tail, tipped with white and band¬ 
ed on outer feathers with dark-brown. 
Young. Ashy-brown above, with every feather edged with white, preceded, excepting on primaries, by a band of dark- 
brown. Beneath, white, tinged with ashy across breast. 
Nestlings. Above, ashy, marked with black, and beneath, white. Bill, brown, yellow at base, iris, brown, and legs, 
greenish-yellow, in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the presence of the membrane between the outer and middle toes, straight bill, the peculiar ashy 
color above, glossed with greenish, and round spottings below. Distributed, in summer, from the Carolinas, northward; 
wintering from this point, southward. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 7'60; stretch, 13'35; wing, 4 - 25; tail, 2 05; 
bill, 100; tarsus, '92. Longest specimen, 8‘00; greatest extent of wing, 13‘75;'longest wing, 4 - 40; tail, 2 30; bill, 110; tar¬ 
sus, P00. Shortest specimen, 7'40: smallest extent of wing, 13'00; shortest wing, 4'10; tail, P80; bill, '90; tarsus, '85. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Eggs, placed on the ground in a slight depression of thesoil, on a little grass, etc., three or four in number, decided¬ 
ly pyriform in shape, varying from creamy to buff in color, spotted, blotched, and dotted, with reddish-brown of varying 
shades, with the usual shell markings of lilac. Dimensions from ’90 x P30 to ’95 x l - 40. 
HABITS. 
There are few who do not recognize the peculiar peet-weet of the spotted Sandpipers, 
as they skim about the fields with their peculiar flight, or stand on some stone in the brook, 
teetering briskly up and down, as they examine the intruder. I have always found them 
common wherever I have been, whether on the sandy beaches at the foot of the high clifts 
on the Magdalen Islands, in the fields of New England, along the water courses of the Mid¬ 
dle and Southern States, or on the partly submerged islands which lie in the Gulf of Mex¬ 
ico, and they always appear as much at home when running along the sandy shores of the 
far North, or jumping from root to root of the mangroves in the South, as they do in the 
cultivated fields of Massachusetts. The Spotted Sandpipers are common during winter, 
from the Carolinas to Key West, but migrate northward in spring, arriving in Massachu¬ 
setts about the first of May. They breed early in June, often placing the nest on the mar¬ 
gin of a grain field, in a potato patch or strawberry bed. On Grand Menan, where they 
are very numerous, they nest in the grassy fields near pools, and along the sea coast of 
Massachusetts, they build in the beach grass, just above high water mark. The females sit 
