Plumage very soft, blended, on the fore part of the head very short. Wings long, narrow, pointed; primaries narrow and tapering, first longest, second a little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries short, broad, incurved, obliquely rounded, the inner elongated and tapering. Tail short, rounded, of twelve rounded feathers.
Bill black. Iris dark brown; edges of eyelids dark grey. Feet bright yellow, claws brownish-black. Upper part of the head, lores, cheeks, neck, and sides of the neck deep brownish-grey, the edges of the feathers greyish-white; a white line from the bill to the eye and over it; upper part of throat white; fore neck greyish-white, streaked with brownish-grey, as are the sides, the rest of the lower parts white, the lower tail-coverts slightly marked with grey. The general colour of the back and scapulars is olivaceous brown tinged with grey, the feathers edged with small dusky and white spots. The wing-coverts and inner secondary quills are similar, the marginal spots on the latter forming bands; primary quills blackish-brown, the shaft of the outer brownish-white, of the rest dark brown, the edges of the inner, and of the middle secondaries white; hind part of back grey, upper tail-coverts white, the larger obscurely barred with grey.
Length to end of tail 10 3/8 inches, to end of wings 11 2/12 to end of claws 13 2/12, extent of wings 20; wing from flexure 6 9/12; tail 2 1/2; bill along the back 1 5/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1 5/12; bare part of tibia 1 4/12; tarsus 1 11/12, middle toe 1 2/12, its claw 2 1/2/12. Weight 2 1/2 oz.
SOLITARY SANDPIPER.
Totanus chloropygius, Vieill.
PLATE CCLXXXIX. Male.
The only nest of this bird that I ever met with was placed in an elevated part of the woods near Bayou Sara, on the margin of a small pond scarcely ten yards broad, overgrown with low bushes, and cumbered with fallen branches of trees. It was formed of grass and withered leaves, arranged without much care, and contained three eggs. Both birds were greatly disconcerted, ran round me, and frequently alighted on the twigs and branches with all the nimbleness of land birds, constantly throwing their heads forward and vibrating their body and tail in the manner of the Louisiana Water Thrush. The eggs measured one inch one eighth and a half in length, seven and a half eighths in breadth; the colour was greenish-yellow, with spots and patches of umber, more abundant around the crown, where the larger marks formed a conspicuous circle. I carried one of the eggs home, and, on returning a few days after to the spot, found one of the birds sitting, which proved to me that the great anxiety shewn at my first visit was chiefly because the female was about to lay her last egg. The male was absent, nor did it shew itself during my stay. About a fortnight after I found the wings of one of the birds near the place; the eggs also were gone; and I concluded that some quadruped, probably a racoon, had committed the havock. No bird of this species was in the neighbourhood.
In the Fauna Boreali-Americana, Dr Richardson says that in high northern latitudes these birds deposit their eggs on the bare sand, which is another proof in addition to the many already given, that great differences as to the mode of nestling may exist in the same species in different parts of the country. Indeed, almost all the habits of this curious bird differ according to the locality. In the Southern States, they are particularly fond of low flat lands among deep woods and cane brakes, and rarely approach ponds of any great extent, but prefer those which are small and most secluded. In the Middle Districts I have found them along the Leighhigh, and in watery places both on low and on elevated ground. In the State of Maine they frequented similar localities. In the prairies of Indiana I have seen them in early spring, during rainy weather, wading and running through the water, on the very foot-path before me, for eight or ten yards at a time. When flushed, they would fly in a semicircle close over the ground, and re-alight at the distance of a hundred yards or so on the same path. Not one of the species was observed in Labrador or Newfoundland by my party; and my friend Thomas MacCulloch informs me that only a few single birds are seen near Pictou, and that in autumn, when they keep in marshy grounds in the neighbourhood of the sea.
The flight of the Solitary Sandpiper is swift and protracted. It moves in a zigzag manner, and at times makes its way through the woods with surprising ease, seldom leaving the starting place without uttering a clear and pleasant tweet. In re-alighting it pitches downwards like the Common Snipe. On the ground they are very active, and at times so indifferent to the approach of man, that they will merely fly across or around a small pond for a considerable time, and, if shot at and not touched, they will be sure to be found in the same place a few hours after. Its alighting on trees has often appeared to me as singular as that of Bartram’s Snipe and the Semipalmated species. The Solitary Snipe is, however, the most expert at catching insects on the wing, especially the smaller kinds of dragon-flies, which it chases from the sticks on which they alight, and generally seizes before they have flown across the little ponds, which are the favourite place of resort of this species. I have found their stomachs filled with aquatic insects, caterpillars of various kinds, and black spiders of considerable size.
I consider this bird to be a constant resident in the United States, although it ranges over a great space in summer and winter. Scarcely any difference is observable in the sexes; and I am of opinion that the young acquire their full plumage the first spring.
Totanus chloropygius, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 325.—Swains. and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 393.