Length to end of tail 29 1/2 inches, to end of wings 16; to end of claw 14; extent of wings 38; wing from flexure 11 1/4; tail 19 1/8; bill along the ridge 2, along the edge of lower mandible 2 3/4; tarsus 1 10/12; middle toe 1 4/12, its claw 4 1/2/12. Weight 15 oz.
Adult Female. Plate CCLXII. Fig. 2.
The Female resembles the male, but is less tinged with red. The bill is yellow, the iris and feet as in the male. The tail-feathers are also less elongated.
Length to end of tail 26 inches, to end of wings 14 1/4, to end of claws 13; wing from flexure 11; tail 16; extent of wings 34; bill along the ridge 11/12, along the edge of lower mandible 2 1/2; tarsus 10/12; middle toe 1 4/12, its claw 4 1/2/12. Weight 12 oz.
THE CURLEW SANDPIPER.
Tringa subarquata, Temm.
PLATE CCLXIII. Adult and Young.
In the course of my extensive rambles along our coasts and in the interior, I have seen only three birds of this species, all of which I have kept with care, considering the Cape Sandpiper or Pigmy Curlew as the rarest of its genus with us. It appears to resort to particular districts; two of my birds were shot at Great Egg Harbour in New Jersey, in the spring of 1829, the other on Long Island near Sandy Hook. No other birds were near them, and I approached them without much difficulty. They were wading along the shores up to the knees, picking up floating garbage and sand worms. In their stomachs I found fragments of minute shells, slender red worms, and bits of marine plants. The one killed on Long Island was a fine male in full plumage, and from it I made the figure that has been engraved in the plate. The others were females or young birds of the preceding year. One, in plain plumage, was drawn; the other, mottled beneath with patches of white and dull rufous, I considered as a female which might perhaps have perfected its colouring that season. I have seen a few specimens in New York, and two in Boston; and my friend John Bachman has one or two in his possession.
Tringa subarquata, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. part ii. p. 609.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 317.
Numenius africanus, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. 712.
Cape Curlew or Sandpiper, Nuttall, Manual, p. 104.