STILT SANDPIPER. ATL 
Not common migrant. The Red-breasted Snipe is named by Dr. Kirt- 
land without comment, and given by Mr. Langdon as a rare spring and 
fall migrant. Ihave never met with it in this vicinty. ~ 
This bird, which greatly resembles the Common Snipe in structure 
and general appearance, differs from it in habit. It is described as mi- 
grating in flocks, often of large size, and as being so unsuspicious as to 
allow a near approach. : 
The eggs of this bird resemble those of the Common Snipe so closely 
as not to be with certainty distinguised. They average about 1.62 by 
1.12. It is known to breed only in high latitudes. 
GENUS MICROPALAMA. Baird. 
Bill much asin Gallinago, but shorter; less widened at the end, and less distinctly 
furrowed above, sometimes perceptibly curved; legs very long; tibia bare an inch; 
tarsus as long as the bill; feet semipalmate ; tail feathers 12. 
MicRoPpALAMA HIMANTOPUS (Bp.) Bd. 
e 
Stilt Sandpiper. 
_ Micropalma (error) himantopus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 380, 480; Reprint, 
1861, 11. 
Micropalama himantopus, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 572 ; 
Reprint, 1875, 12.—Lana@pon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 14; Revised List, Journ. Cin. 
Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1579, 184; Reprint, 22. 
Tringa himantopus, BONAPARTE, Aun. Lyc. N. Y., ii, 1826, 157. 
Micropalama himantopus, BAIRD, Birds N. A., 1858, 726. . 
Adult in summer, above blackish, each feather edged and tipped with white and 
tawny or bay, which on the scapulars becomes scalloped ; auriculars chestnut; a dusky 
line from bill to eye, and a light reddish superciliary line; upper tail coverts white 
with dusky bars; primaries dusky with blackish tips; tail feathers ashy-gray, their 
edge and acentral field white; under parts mixed reddish, black, and whitish, in streaks 
on the jugulum, elsewhere in bars; bill and feet greenish-black. Young and adultin 
winter, ashy-gray above, with or without traces of black and bay, the feathers usually 
with white edging; line over the eye and under parts white; the jugulum and sides 
suffused with the color of the back, and streaked with dusky ; legs usually pale. Length, 
8-9 inches; wing, 5; tail, 24; bill and tarsus, both 14-13; middle toe, 1. 
Habitat, North America generally. Not observed west of the Rocky Mountains. 
Rare in the United States. West Indies. Central America and most of South America. 
Very rare migrant. The Stilt Sandpiper was given as a bird of Ohio 
by me in 1861, on the authority of Mr. R. K. Winslow, who informed me 
that specimens had been taken on Lake Erie, where it was very rare. 
Mr. Ridgway gives it as a bird of Illinois, and Mr. Nelson mentions two 
specimens on Lake Michigan, near Chicago. 
No description of their nesting or eggs is known to me. 
