stilt-sandpiper

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A long-legged sandpiper of America, Micropalama himantopus. The adult in summer is blackish above, with each feather edged and tipped with white, or tawny and bay; the under parts are mixed reddish, whitish, and black in streaks on the throat, elsewhere in bars; the ear-coverts are chestnut, the upper tail-coverts white with dusky bars, and the bill and feet greenish-black. The length is 8¾ inches, the extent 16½. The young and the adults in winter are quite different, being ashy-gray above, with little or no trace of the reddish and black; a line over the eye and the whole under parts are white; and the jugulum and sides are suffused with ashy, and streaked with dusky. The bird inhabits North America, breeding in high latitudes, and migrating in the fall to Central and South America. See cut under Micropalama.