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BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
Totanus solitarius (Wils.). 
Solitary Sandpiper. 
Description (Plate 10). 
Bill long, straight, slender; maxilla with deep grooves in front of nostrils ; slender 
legs and toes ; basal webs, but that between outer and middle toes much the largest; 
tail rounded and barred with white and blackish; bill blackish; legs greenish ; 
eyes brown. 
Adult , in spring. —Upper parts dark-brown, with faint tinge oi olive ; top ot head, 
and back of neck streaked with white, rest of upper plumage spotted with white; chin, 
lower breast, most of sides, abdomen and under tail-coverts white; front of neck 
white with numerous dusky streaks ; primaries blackish above, paler below ; lining 
of wings and axillars with dusky and white bars. Old birds in the fall and the 
young are very similar to the adult in spring but are duller in color ; the top of head, 
hind neck and most of sides of the latter grayish-brown with few or no faint dusky 
streaks ; chin and upper throat white ; front of neck grayish-brown and white with 
indistinct dusky streaks. Length 8 to 9 inches ; extent 15 to 17 ; bill 1£ inches or a 
little less. 
Habitat .—North America, breeding occasionally in the northern United States, 
more commonly northward, and migrating southward as far as Brazil and Peru. 
Common spring* and fall migrant. Breeds occasionally in a few 
localities. The Solitary Sandpiper, unlike other of the sandpipers 
occurring in this region, appears to have a special fondness for stagnant 
pools in and about the woods. During its spring and fall passage 
through Pennsylvania it is common, frequenting, generally, the muddy 
borders of ponds, pools and sloughs. This species seldom arrives in 
this state before April 25. About the first week in May you find them 
singly, in pairs, and occasionally in flocks, numbering sometimes as 
many as eight or even twelve individuals. In Wilson’s Ornithology, 
the following mention is made of the species: “ I have made many 
long and close searches for the nest of this bird without success. They 
regularly breed on Pocono mountain, between Easton and Wilkes-Barre, 
in Pennsylvania, arriving there early in May and departing in Septem¬ 
ber.” In Cumberland county the Messrs. Baird record it as a native. 
Wilson also states that these birds inhabit the watery solitudes of our 
highest mountains during the summer from Kentucky to New York, 
but are nowhere numerous, seldom more than one or two being seen 
together. Dr. Coues has found “ young birds in July in northern Dakota, 
about the pools of Turtle mountain.” The same writer also states that “ in 
Maryland and Virginia, and in nearly correspondent latitudes in the 
west, I have shot birds in August so young as to leave no doubt in my 
mind that they were bred in the vicinity.” I have never seen a Solitary 
Sandpiper in Pennsylvania in June or July, but that it breeds sparingly, 
and in several localities, there is no doubt. Mr. George B. Sennett, of 
Erie, has several times met with this species in midsummer about streams 
running through woods, in the vicinity of Meadville, Crawford county; 
and Mr. H. C. Kirkpatrick, 'a taxidermist residing at Meadville, says it 
is occasionally found in that neighborhood as a native. Prof. H. Justin 
