440 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
Young in August .—Dimensions and proportions as in adult. Upper parts a nearly 
uniform light ashv-brown, deeper on the rump, each feather with a central dark field 
and with alight edge, these whitish edgings usually conspicuous. Traces of the brown¬ 
ish-black of the adult on the scapulars. Breast and j ugulum with the suffusion very 
light reddish-brown, the streaks sparse and very indistinct. Length, 7.00-7.50; ex¬ 
tent, 15.25-16.50; wing, 4.25-4.75; tail, 2.25; bill, tarsus and middle toe with claw, 
about 0.87. Colors almost exactly as in Least Sandpiper ; edgings of upper plumage 
rather tawny than chestnut; j ugular suffusion pale, rather fulvous, the streaks small 
and sparse, sometimes almost obsolete. Size of White-rumped Sandpiper, but not 
easily confounded with that white-rumped species.— Coues ’ Key. 
Habitat .—North America in general ; chiefly in the interior. Rare on Atlantic 
coast, but common in some parts of the west during migrations. 
Baird’s Sandpiper, named by Dr. Elliott Coues, in honor of the late Spencer F. 
Baird, whose early ornithological work was begun in Pennsylvania, breeds along 
the Arctic coast in June and J uly. In the United Spates it is recorded only as a pass¬ 
ing visitor in the spring and fall. During migrations, Dr. Coues informs us, it is 
the most abundant of all the small sandpipers in some sections of the west. Mr. 
W. E. Clyde Todd informs me he shot, September 16, 1889, a single bird of this 
species in company with a couple of Semi pal mated plovers, near the town of Beaver, 
Pa. I am not aware that any other specimens of Baird’s Sandpiper have ever been 
taken in our state. 
HiEMATOPUS PALLIATUS Temm. 
American Oyster-catcher. 
Description. 
“Feet, three-toed, very stout and rough, red. Bill, stout, straight, longer than 
head, much compressed, truncate at ends something like a Woodpecker’s, red. 
Head and neck sooty blackish, changing to brownish-black on the back and wings. 
Under parts of the neck, white; a large white space on the wings. A red ring 
around the eyes. Sexes alike. Length about 18 inches ; extent, 34 inches.”— Coues. 
Habitat. —Sea-coasts of temperate and tropical America, from New Jersey and 
Lower California to Patagonia ; occasional or accidental on the Atlantic coast north 
to Massachusetts and Grand Menan. 
Very rare or accidental visitor from the sea-coast. A specimen of this species, 
captured about fifteen years ago, is in the museum at Lancaster city. 
The late C. D. Wood informed me that two of these birds were shot, about eight 
years ago, on an island in the Delaware river near Philadelphia. 
SECTION 2. 
Birds of the Delaware Valley. 
[Note.— The author is indebted to Dr. Charles C. Abbott, Curator, Museum of 
American Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Penna., for the 
following notes concerning species in the valley of the Delaware river, in the vicinity 
of Bristol, Bucks county, Penna. Numbers in parenthesis after the common names 
refer to other pages in this volume where additional information concerning the 
bird will be found.] 
I 
