Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0057/00576.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 10KB | 161 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00576}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Semipalmated Sandpiper}
$Subject{Scolopacinae; Tringa; Calidris; semipalmata; pusilla; Semipalmated
Sandpiper}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume V}
$Volume{Vol. 5:277-280}
$Family{Scolopacinae}
$Genus{Tringa; Calidris}
$Species{semipalmata; pusilla}
$Common_Name{Semipalmated Sandpiper}
$Log{
Plate CCCXXXVI*00576p1.scf
Family*00565.txt
Genus*00566.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL.  V.
                        --------------------------------


                            SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER.
                           [Semipalmated Sandpiper.]


                           TRINGA SEMIPALMATA, Wils.
                              [Calidris pusilla.]


                            PLATE CCCXXXVI.--ADULT.


     This species enters the Texas early in April, in great numbers, although in
small parties, some composed of young, others of old birds, and not unfrequently
accompanied by other species.  At this season it moves northward with celerity,
both along the shores of the sea and those of some of our larger streams, by
routes which they also follow in their retrograde migration at the approach of
winter.  Many, however, remain in the southern parts of the United States all
summer, and I have seen numbers of them on the coasts, as well as on the Keys of
Florida.  There being a very remarkable difference of size in individuals of the
same sex, and still more between males and females, the latter being the larger,
I was induced to compare a great number of them, and in consequence have
concluded that the difference depends on age, for the young of either sex are
generally pretty similar as to the length of the bill and legs, during their
first autumn and winter.  In Labrador I shot a whole brood when just able to
fly, together with several old birds, which kept apart.  Among the latter I
found differences as to size and proportions enough to induce persons having
nothing better than skins, to imagine that several species might be made out of
them.
     About the period when these birds prepare to return southward, they
congregate in large flocks, the young separate from the old.  In Labrador this
takes place from the beginning to the middle of August.  There I found this
species dispersed in pairs, and having nests, early in June; but all our
endeavours to procure any were fruitless, so cunningly had they disposed of
them, and so effectually did they mislead us by squatting on the moss for
several minutes at a time, as if sitting on their eggs.  On our approaching them
on such occasions, they would run or fly off to a short distance, in various
directions, and renew their wiles.
     I have often seen considerable flocks of this species along the shores of
the Ohio and Mississippi during autumn, and have reason to believe that some are
also to be found then on the Missouri.  At this season, when they feed on
fresh-water insects, worms, and small coleoptera, they are very fat, and afford
excellent eating; which is rarely the case when they are along the seashores, as
their food then consists of small shell-fish and marine insects, for which they
are often seen probing the sands in the manner of Curlews.  They are active,
quarrelsome, and impatient, moving from one spot to another unexpectedly, and
perhaps returning to the same place a few minutes after.  On taking wing, they
utter their tweet tweet simultaneously, and whilst on the ground emit murmuring
sounds peculiar to themselves.  Their flight is swift and well sustained, and
when alarmed, or previous to alighting, their evolutions through the air are
very pleasing to the beholder.


     SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, Tringa semipalmata, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii.
       p. 131.
     TRINGA SEMIPALMATA, Bonap. Syn. p. 316.
     SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 136.
     SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, Tringa semipalmata, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v.
       p. 110.


     Adult, 6 3/4, 12 1/2.
     Exceedingly abundant from Texas to Maine, in winter, spring, and autumn.
Breeds from Labrador northward.  Columbia river.  Migratory.
     Bill as long as 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 its tip; lower mandible with the angle very
long and narrow, the outline straight, towards the end slightly declinate, the
sides sloping a little outwards, with a groove extending to near the tip, which
is a little widened and rather obtuse.
     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 very short and extremely
slender; anterior toes rather long, slender, connected by webs, of which the
outer is larger, and extends to opposite the second joint of the third toe, both
however margining the toes to their extremity; the outer toe a little longer
than the inner, and not much exceeded by the third.  Claws small, much
compressed, tapering, slightly arched, 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 a twelfth and a half shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; outer
secondaries incurved, obliquely pointed, inner straight, tapering, one of them
reaching to nine-twelfths of an inch from the tip of the longest primary.  Tail
rather short, doubly emarginate, that is, with the middle feathers a quarter of
an inch longer than the lateral, which are a little longer than some of the
intermediate.
     Bill greenish-dusky; iris hazel; feet dull yellowish-green, claws black.
The upper part of the head, the cheeks, the hind part and sides of the neck are
ash-grey, streaked with dusky; on the rest of the upper parts the feathers are
dusky-brown, margined with pale grey, those on the rump and the upper
tail-coverts blackish-brown; secondary coverts tipped with white; alula and
primary coverts brownish-black, the latter tipped with white; primary quills
greyish-black, with white shafts; secondary quills gradually more grey; the
primaries externally edged with white toward the base, as are the outer
secondaries in a fainter degree, as well as terminally, some of them also having
the greater part of the inner web greyish-white.  The two middle tail-feathers
greyish-black on the inner web, their outer web and all the other feathers
ash-grey.  The anterior part of the forehead and a band over the eye
greyish-white; the lower parts of the neck and body white.
     Length to end of tail 6 3/4 inches; to end of wings 6 3/4, to end of claws
7 1/8; extent of wings 12 1/2; bill along the ridge 1 1/2; wing from flexure 4;
tail 1 8/12; bare part of tibia 5/12; tarsus 11/12; hind toe (2 1/4)/12, its
claw 1/12; middle toe 8/12, its claw (1 1/2)/12.  Weight 1 oz.
     The female is considerably larger than the male, but otherwise similar.
     In winter the upper parts are ash-grey, tinged with brown, each feather
with a central dusky line.
     In a female preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is flat, with the
edges a little prominent, and two medial series of reflected papillae.  The
tongue is 10 1/4 twelfths long, slender, papillate at the base, concave above,
rather obtuse and somewhat jagged at the extremity, horny in nearly its whole
length.  The extremity of the upper mandible is somewhat