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Range (Tropical America breeding) (II)

Tropical America, breeding northward to the Gulf coast and "locally and rarely" up the Mississippi Valley as far as Minnesota; rare on the Atlantic coast north of Florida, but straying sometimes as far as Maine. Long Island, A. V.

Nest, a slight depression in the ground lined with grasses. Eggs, three to four, olive or buffy clay-color, thickly spotted with chocolate, 1.70 × 1.25. Stilts are fond of wading in shallow ponds in salt marshes, and are graceful and alert in their movements. During the nesting season they become very noisy, and at nightfall I have heard them utter their froglike croak as they darted erratically about over the marshes. .

FAMILY SCOLOPACIDÆ. SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.

About one hundred species are considered as belonging to this family. They are distributed throughout the world, but during the breeding season are mostly confined to the northern parts of the northern hemisphere. Some forty-five species are found in North America. With the Plovers they constitute the great group known as Shore Birds or Bay Birds, and with few exceptions they are rarely found far from the vicinity of water. Generally speaking, they are more abundant on the coast than in the interior, but many species are quite as numerous inland as they are near the sea. As a rule, they migrate SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. and pass the winter in flocks, but they are not gregarious during the nesting season.

Their long bills serve the purpose of both probes and forceps. Most of the species probe the soft mud for food, while some are known to have the power of moving the upper mandible independently of the lower one, curving it at the tip as one would a finger. Snipes are not supposed to be song birds, but during the breeding season many species are highly and peculiarly musical, and at other times of the year they utter characteristic whistles. These are susceptible of imitation, and the birds are quick to respond to an imitation of their notes. The sportsman concealed in his "blind," therefore, calls to passing birds, and with the aid of wooden decoys easily draws them within gunshot.

I. Bill 2.00 or over.

KEY TO THE SPECIES.

A. Axillars * barred with black. a. Bill curved downward. a1. Bill over 3.00, under 4.50. a2. Bill under 3.00 a3. Bill over 4.50 b. Bill straight or curved slightly upward. 61. Tail-feathers with numerous black bars. 265. HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 266. ESKIMO CURLEW. 264. LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 62. Wing over 7.00, primaries black or fuscous. 254. GREATER YELLOW-LEGS. 249. MARBLED GODWIT. bs. Wing over 7.00, inner web of primaries buff or rufous. 64. Wing under 7.00, bill widened and pitted at the tip. 231. DOWITCHER. 232. LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. c. Tail black with a broad rufous tip or marked with rufous. c2. Outer web of primary with rufous bars. c³. Primaries not barred B. Axillars not barred. a. Axillars rufous or ochraceous-buff. 227. EUROPEAN WOODCOCK. 230. WILSON'S SNIPE. a1. Bill over 5.00, much curved downward. 264. LONG-BILLED CURLEW. a2. Bill nearly straight, between 3.50 and 5.00. 249. MARBLED GODWIT. a3. Bill straight, under 3.50 . b. Axillars black. 228. AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 61. Under parts chestnut-rufous, barred with black.. 251. HUDSONIAN GODWIT. 62. Under parts white, with or without blackish bars. 258. WILLET. 258a. WESTERN WILLET. * See Fig. 64.

II. Bill under 2.00.

SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.

A. Tail with cross-bars. a. Wing over 5.75. a1. Outer tail-feathers white, more or less barred; outer primary without bars 255. YELLOW-LEGS. a2. Outer primary with numerous black bars. b. Wing under 5.75. 261. BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. 61. Under parts white, with numerous round blackish spots; upper parts brownish gray, barred with blackish 263. SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 62. Under parts white, breast streaked with blackish; upper parts fuscous, spotted with white 256. SOLITARY SANDPIPER. 63. Under parts tinged with buffy, inner web of outer primary speckled with blackish 262. BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 64. Under parts white, breast washed with grayish, inner primaries and secondaries with a concealed white patch.

B. Tail without cross-bars, toes 4. a. Bill over 1.10. 263. SPOTTED SANDPIPER (Im.). a¹. Middle upper tail-coverts with cross-bars or streaks. a2. Tarsus over 1.50 . 233. STILT SANDPIPER. a³. Tarsus under 1.50, wing under 6.00. 244. CURLEW SANDPIPER. a4. Tarsus under 1.50, wing over 6.00 234. KNOT. 61. Middle upper tail-coverts black or fuscous, without bars; bill straight. 235. PURPLE SANDPIPER. 62. Tarsus under 1.50; upper parts blackish, more or less margined with gray 63. Tarsus under 1.50; upper parts more or less margined with rufous. 239. PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 64. Tarsus over 1.50 260. RUFF. c¹. Middle upper tail-coverts grayish, bill curved slightly downward. 6. Bill under 1.10. 61. Wing under 4.00. 62. Toes partly webbed. 243a. RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 246. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. 247. WESTERN SANDPIPER. b3. Toes not webbed 242. LEAST SANDPIPER. cl. Wing over 4.00, inner webs of primaries plain. c2. Breast white or whitish, streaked or spotted with blackish; middle upper tail-coverts white 240. WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. c³. Breast buffy, heavily spotted or streaked with blackish; middle upper tail-coverts black, slightly margined with rufous. 239. PECTORAL SANDPIPER. c4. Breast buffy lightly spotted or streaked with black; middle upper tail-coverts fuscous, lightly margined with buffy. 241. BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. d1. Wing over 4.00, inner webs of primaries speckled. C. Tail without cross-bars, toes 3 262. BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 248. SANDERLING.

WOODCOCK AND YOUNG.

SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 228. Philohela minor (Gmel.). AMERICAN WOODCOCK. Ad.-Front of the crown slaty, washed with buff, an indistinct blackish line in its center, and another from the eye to the bill; back of the head black, with two or three bars of ochraceous-buff; rest of the upper parts black, margined with slaty and barred and mottled with rufous or ochraceous-buff; tip of the tail ashy gray above, silvery beneath; under parts between ochraceous-buff and rufous; three outer primaries very narrow and much stiffened. L., 11.00; W., 5.40; Tar., 1.25; B., 2.90.