I found these birds quite abundant on the whole coast of Florida, during winter, and I have no doubt that many remain with us all the year; indeed, it would not at all surprise me to hear that some of them actually breed in parts of the alpine districts of our Middle States. I have also found them equally numerous along the whole coast of the Bay of Mexico, during my recent visit to Texas, when, late in April, some of them were still travelling from farther south-west, and proceeding eastward. In South Carolina, they are frequent in spring and autumn, along the borders of the rice fields, and inland fresh-water ponds.
Since writing the above, my friend Dr Townsend has furnished me with a list of some of the birds seen by him on the Rocky Mountains and the Columbia River, in which this species is mentioned as being found along the shores of that celebrated stream of the far west.
Tringa pusilla, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. v. p. 32, pl. 37, fig. 4.—Ch. Bonap., Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 319.
Wilson’s Sandpiper, Tringa Wilsonii, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 120.
Adult Male in Summer Plumage. Plate CCCXX. Fig. 1.
Bill shorter than the head, slender, straight, compressed, tapering from the base to near the point, which is slightly swelled, but with the tip rather acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow and convex, a little broader and flattened towards the end, the sides sloping, with the nasal groove extending to near the tip. Lower mandible with the angle very long and narrow, the dorsal line straight, towards the end slightly declinate, the sides sloping a little outwards, with a groove extending to near the tip.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather short. Body compact, ovate. Feet of moderate length and slender; tibia bare a fourth of its length; tarsus of moderate length, compressed, scutellate before and behind, so as to leave scarcely any intermediate space; hind toe extremely small; anterior toes rather long, slender, free, slightly margined, and with numerous scutella above. Claws small, slightly arched, much compressed, that of the third toe larger, with the inner edge a little dilated.
Plumage soft, blended on the neck and lower parts, somewhat compact on the upper. Wings long, pointed; primaries tapering, obtuse, the first longest, the second very little shorter, the third rather more than one-eighth of an inch shorter than the second, the rest rapidly decreasing; outer secondaries incurved, obliquely rounded, inner straight, tapering, one of them reaching to two-twelfths of an inch of the end of the first quill. Tail of moderate length, doubly emarginate, that is with the middle feathers considerably longer than the lateral, which are a little longer than the intermediate.
Bill greenish-dusky; feet pale dull yellowish-green; claws black; iris hazel. The feathers on the upper part of the head, and back, including the scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and inner secondaries, black, broadly margined with light brownish-red; some of the scapulars margined externally with white, and the larger glossed with green. Alula, primary coverts, primary quills, and outer secondaries, greyish-black, all more or less narrowly tipped with greyish-white; secondary coverts largely tipped with the same; the primaries externally edged with the same toward the base, as are the outer secondaries in a fainter degree, the inner webs of some of the latter greyish-white towards the base. Rump and upper tail-coverts black. The two middle tail-feathers black, with pale brownish-red margins, the next feather on each side greyish-brown, margined with greyish-white, the outer four pale brownish-grey, very narrowly margined externally, more broadly round their points and along the inner edges with greyish-white; lateral tail-coverts with the outer web white. From the forehead over the eye to the occiput, a band of dull greyish-white, faintly streaked with dusky; loral band brownish-dusky, that colour extending to the ear-coverts; the rest of the cheeks dull greyish-white, faintly streaked with dusky; the throat greyish-white; the sides and fore part of the neck of the same colour, faintly streaked with dusky; the rest of the lower parts, including the axillar and lateral rump feathers, pure white; the lower surface of the wing pale brownish-grey, the coverts margined and tipped with greyish-white; the shafts of the primaries white.
Length to end of tail 5 5/8 inches, to end of wings 5 1/8, to end of claws 5 3/4; extent of wings 11 3/8; from tip of bill to carpal joint 2; wing from flexure 3 8/12; tail 1 8/12; bill along the ridge 8 1/2/12; tarsus 8 3/4/12; hind toe and claw 2 1/2/12, middle toe and claw 10 1/2/12; outer toe and claw 8/12; inner 1/2/12 shorter.