278 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
about a bar, “probing here and there with their long beaks like so many 
‘jack snipes’ ” (1927, p. 193). They were among the commonest 
waders found by Doctor Nelson on Norton Sound, Alaska, and at the 
mouth of the Yukon on May 12, they were “already engaged in love- 
making, though the ground was still, to a great extent, covered with 
snow” (1887, p. 100). In May, 1924, Mr. H. B. Conover found them 
suddenly “common all over the tundra,” and on June 23, he found 
young out of the nest being led out of danger by their father (1926, 
pp. 305-306). On the tide marshes at Santa Barbara, on August 11, 
1911, ten Dowitchers were reported as still in their nuptial plumage. 
[STILT SANDPIPER: Micropalama him£ntopus (Bonaparte) 
Description. — Length: 7.5-9.2 inches, wing 5-5.3, bill 1.5-1.7, tarsus 1.5-1.7. 
Legs very long and slender, front toes webbed at base. Adults in breeding plumage: 
Head striped broadly with rusty and streaked with white; rest of upperparts varied with 
black , pale gray and buff; upper tail coverts white spotted or barred, tail grayish; 
underparts soiled white, lower throat and chest streaked, breast and belly extensively 
barred , axillars and under wing coverts mainly white; bill black and greenish, feet and 
long legs greenish yellow. Adults in winter plumage: Upperparts mostly brownish 
gray with light feather edgings; tail coverts, tail and wings much as in summer; 
underparts white, indistinctly streaked, tail white, marked with ashy; legs and feet 
dark greenish. Young injuvenal plumage: Back and scapulars blackish, marked with 
buffy, whitish, and rusty; upper tail coverts almost pure white; breast and sides 
suffused with buff. 
Comparisons. —“Among small sandpipers readily recognized, as its long legs 
raise its body above the others . . . in fall plumage it resembles young Yellow-legs, 
but its body is smaller and its legs are greenish and not bright yellow; the tail and 
tail-coverts show whitish in flight, but it lacks the long gray rump and the white on 
the back shown in flight by the Dowitchcr; in spring it may be recognized by its 
dark back, barred under plumage and long, greenish yellow legs” (Forbush). (See 
pp. 270, 278.) 
Range. —“The Stilt Sandpiper is one of the rarer shore-birds and but little is 
known of its range and migrations” (Bent, 1927). Breeds probably in northeastern 
Alaska, Yukon, Keewatin, and Manitoba, but eggs have been taken only in northern 
Mackenzie; winters, presumably, in southern South America, but it was found by 
Wetmore only in Paraguay. Its numbers have been considerably reduced and it 
seems very local in its winter range (Wetmore). It is a scarce but probably regular 
fall migrant in British Columbia (Brooks and Swarth). 
State Records. —Breeding in the Arctic regions and wintering in South America, 
the Stilt Sandpiper in journeying between its winter and summer homes is found most 
commonly in the district between the Mississippi River and the eastern foothills of 
the Rocky Mountains. This should make it a migrant in New Mexico as it is in 
Colorado and over much of Mexico. It was taken April 7, 1892, on the New Mexico- 
Chihuahua line at Lake Palomas (Mearns), scarcely more than a mile outside of New 
Mexico, but as yet there is no certain record for the State.—W. W. Cooke.1 
WESTERN SANDPIPER: Ereunetes mauri Cabanis 
Description. — Male: Wing 3.6-3.7 inches, bill .8-.9, tarsus .8-.9. Female: 
Wing 3.7-3.9 inches, bill 1-1.1, tarsus .9. Front toes with webs at base. Adults in 
late spring and summer: Upperparts with feathers black centered, conspicuously edged 
