TRINGA, the SANDPIPER, in ornithology, a genus of birds, belonging to the order of grallæ. The beak is somewhat cylindrical, and as long as the head; the nostrils are linear; and there are four toes on the feet, the hind one consisting of one joint, and elevated above the ground. There are 23 species; of which the most remarkable are,
1. The vanellus, or lapwing, inhabits most of the heaths and marshy grounds of this island. Their length is about 13½ inches, the breadth 2½ feet. The bill is black: the crown of the head of a shining blackness: the crest of the same colour, consisting of about 20 slender unwebbed feathers of unequal lengths: the longest are 4 inches: the cheeks and sides of the neck are white, but beneath each eye is a black line: the throat and fore-part of the neck are black: the plumage on the hind-part is mixed with white, ash-colour, and red: the back and scapulars are of a most elegant glossy green; and the latter finely varied with purple: the lesser covert feathers of the wings are of a resplendent black blue and green: the greater quill-feathers black, but the ends of the four first are marked with a white spot: the upper half of the lesser quill feathers are black: the lower white: the breast and belly are white: the vent-feathers and covers of the tail orange-colour: the tail consists of 12 feathers: the outmost on each side
Tringa. fide is white, marked on the upper end of the inner web with a dusky spot; the upper half of all the others are black, tipped with a dirty white; their lower half of a pure white; the legs are red; the irides hazel. The female is less than the male. Merret, in his Pinax, p. 182, says, that there is in Cornwall a bird related to this; but less than a thrush, having blue feathers and a long crest.—The lapwing lays four eggs, making a flight nest with a few bents. The eggs have an olive cast, and are spotted with black. The young, as soon as hatched, run like chickens: the parents show remarkable solicitude for them, flying with great anxiety and clamour near them, striking at either men or dogs that approach, and often flutter along the ground like a wounded bird, to a considerable distance from their nest, to delude their pursuers; and to aid the deceit, become more clamorous when most remote from it: the eggs are held in great esteem for their delicacy, and are sold by the London poulterers for three shillings the dozen. In winter, lapwings join in vast flocks; but at that season are very wild: their flesh is very good, their food being insects and worms. During October and November, they are taken in the fens in nets, in the same manner that roofs are; but are not preserved for fattening, being killed as soon as caught.
2. The squatarola, or grey sandpiper, is in length 12 inches; in breadth 24: the bill black, about an inch long, strong and thick: the head, back, and coverts of the wings are black, edged with greenish ash-colour and some white: cheeks and throat white, marked with oblong dusky spots: the belly and thighs white: the exterior webs of the quill-feathers black, the lower part of the interior webs of the four first white: the rump white: the tail marked with transverse bars of black and white: the legs of a dirty green: the back-toe very small. These appear in small flocks in the winter-time, but are not very common: their flesh is very delicate.
3. The pugnax. The males of this species, called roofs, assume such variety of colours in several parts of their plumage, that it is scarce possible to see two alike; but the great length of the feathers on the neck, that gives name to them, at once distinguishes these from all other birds. On the back of their necks is a singular tuft of feathers spreading wide on both sides. These, and the former, in some are black; in others white, yellow, or ferruginous; but this tuft and the roofs frequently differ in colours in the same bird. The feathers that bear an uniformity of colouring through each individual of this sex are the coverts of the wings, which are brown inclining to ash-colour; the feathers on the breast, which are often black or dusky; the four exterior feathers of the tail, which are of a cinereous brown; and the four middle, which are barred with black and brown: the bill is black towards the end, red at the base. The legs in all are yellow. In moulting they lose the character of the long neck-feathers, nor do they recover it till after their return to the fens the spring following. It is then they regain that ornament, and at the same time a set of small pear-shaped yellow pimples break out in great numbers on their face above the bill.—The flags, or male birds of the first year, want these marks, and have sometimes been mistaken for a new species of tringa; but they may be easily known by the colours of the
coverts of the wings, and the middle feathers of the tail.—The older the birds are, the more numerous the pimples, and the fuller and longer the roofs.
The length of the male to the tip of the tail is one foot, the breadth two; of the reeve or female, ten inches, the breadth nineteen; the weight of the former when just taken is seven ounces and a half; of the latter only four. The reeves never change their colours, which are pale brown; the back spotted with black, slightly edged with white; the tail brown, the middle feathers spotted with black; the breast and belly white; the legs of a pale dull yellow.
These birds appear in the fens in the earliest spring, and disappear about Michaelmas. The reeves lay four eggs in a tuft of grass, the first week in May, and sit about a month. The eggs are white, marked with large rusty spots. Fowlers avoid in general the taking of the females; not only because they are smaller than the males, but that they may be left to breed.
Soon after their arrival, the males begin to hill, that is, to collect on some dry bank near a splash of water, in expectation of the females, who resort to them. Each male keeps possession of a small piece of ground, which it runs round till the grass is worn quite away, and nothing but a naked circle is left. When a female lights, the roofs immediately fall to fighting. It is a vulgar error, that roofs must be fed in dark lest they should destroy each other by fighting on admission of light. The truth is, every bird takes its stand in the room as it would in the open fen. If another invades its circle, an attack is made, and a battle ensues. They make use of the same action in fighting as a cock, place their bills to the ground and spread their roofs. Mr Pennant says, he has set a whole room full a-fighting, by making them move their stations; and after quitting the place, by peeping through a crevice, seen them resume their circles and grow pacific.
When a fowler discovers one of those hills, he places his net over night, which is of the same kind as those that are called clap or day nets; only it is generally single, and is about fourteen yards long and four broad. The fowler resorts to his stand at day-break, at the distance of one, two, three, or four hundred yards from the nets, according to the time of the season; for the later it is, the shyer the birds grow. He then makes his first pull, taking such birds as he finds within reach; after that he places his stale birds or stales to entice those that are continually traversing the fen. An old fowler told our author that he once caught forty-four birds at the first hawl, and in all six dozen that morning. When the stales are set, seldom more than two or three are taken at a time. A fowler will take forty or fifty dozens in a season. These birds are found in Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely, and in the East Riding of York. They visit a place called Martin-Mere in Lancashire, the latter end of March or beginning of April; but do not continue there above three weeks; where they are taken in nets, and fattened for the table with bread and milk, hempseed, and sometimes boiled wheat; but if expedition is required, sugar is added, which will make them in a fortnight's time a lump of fat: they then sell for two shillings or half a crown a piece. Judgment is required in taking the proper time for killing
Tringa. killing them, when they are at the highest pitch of fatness; for if that is neglected, the birds are apt to fall away. The method of killing them is by cutting off their head with a pair of scissors: the quantity of blood that issues is very great, considering the size of the bird. They are dressed like the woodcock, with their intestines; and, when killed at the critical time, say the Epicures, are the most delicious of all morsels.
4. The canutus, or knot, has the forehead, chin, and lower part of the neck, brown, inclining to ash-colour; the back and scapulars deep brown, edged with ash-colour; the coverts of the wings with white, the edges of the lower order deeply so, forming a white bar; the breast, sides, and belly white, the two first streaked with brown; the coverts of the tail marked with white and dusky spots alternately; the tail ash-coloured, the outmost feather on each side white; the legs of a bluish grey; and the toes, as a special mark, divided to the very bottom; the weight four ounces and a half. —These birds, when fattened, are preferred by some to the ruffs themselves. They are taken in great numbers on the coasts of Lincolnshire, in nets such as employed in taking ruffs; with two or three dozens of stales of wood painted like the birds, placed within; fourteen dozens have been taken at once. Their season is from the beginning of August to that of November. They disappear with the first frosts. Camden says they derive their name from king Canute, Knute, or Knout, as he is sometimes called; probably because they were a favourite dish with that monarch. We know that he kept the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary with great pomp and magnificence at Ely; and this being one of the fen-birds, it is not unlikely but he meet with it there.
5. The morinellus, turnstone, or sea-dottrel, is about the size of a thrush; the forehead and throat are ash-coloured; the head, whole neck and coverts of the wings, are of a deep brown, edged with a pale reddish brown; the scapular feathers are of the same colour, very long, and cover the back; that and the rump are white, the last marked with a large triangular black spot; the tail consists of twelve feathers, their lower half is white, the upper black, and the tips white; the quill feathers are dusky, but from the third or fourth the bottoms are white; the legs are short, and of an orange colour. —These birds take their name from their method of searching for food, by turning up small stones, with their strong bills to get at the insects that lurk under them.
6. The ochropus, or green sandpiper. This beautiful species is not very common in these kingdoms. The head and hind part of the neck are of a brownish ash-colour, streaked with white; the under part mottled with brown and white; the back, scapular, and coverts of the wings are of a dusky green, glossy and resplendent as silk, and elegantly marked with small white spots; the lesser quill-feathers of the same colours; the under sides of the wings are black, marked with numerous white lines pointing obliquely from edges of the feather to the shaft, representing the letter V; the rump is white; the tail of the same colour. —Except in pairing time, it is a solitary bird: it is never found near the sea; but frequents rivers, lakes, and other fresh waters. In France it is highly esteemed.
ed for its delicate taste; and is taken with limed twigs placed near its haunts. Trinidad, Trinitarian
7. The hypoleucos, or common sandpiper, agrees with the former in its manners and haunts; but is more common: its note is louder and more piping than others of this genus. Its head is brown, streaked with downward black lines; the neck an obscure ash-colour; the back and coverts of the wings brown, mixed with a glossy green, elegantly marked with transverse dusky lines; the breast and belly are of a pure white; the quill-feathers and the middle feathers of the tail are brown; the legs of a dull pale green.
8. The alpina, or dunling sandpiper, is at once distinguished from the others by the singularity of its colours. The back, head, and upper part of the neck are ferruginous, marked with large black spots; the lower part of the neck white, marked with short dusky streaks; the coverts of the wings ash-colour; the belly white, marked with large black spots, or with a black crescent pointing towards the thighs; the tail is ash-coloured; legs black; toes divided to their origin. In size it is superior to that of a lark. These birds are found on our sea-coasts; but may be reckoned among the more rare kinds. They lay four eggs of a dirty white colour, blotched with brown round the thicker end, and marked with a few small spots of the same colour on the smaller end. They are common on the Yorkshire coasts, and esteemed a great delicacy.
9. The cinclus, or purre, is in length 7½ inches; extent 14; the head and hind part of the neck are ash-coloured, marked with dusky lines; a white stroke divides the bill and eyes; the back is of a brownish ash-colour; the breast and belly white; the coverts of the wings and tail a dark brown, edged with light ash-colour or white; the upper part of the quill-feathers dusky, the lower white; the legs of a dusky green; the toes divided to their origin. The bill an inch and a half long, slender and black; irides dusky. —These birds come in prodigious flocks on our sea-coasts during the winter: in their flight they perform their evolutions with great regularity; appearing like a white or a dusky cloud, as they turn their backs or their breasts towards you. They leave our shores in spring, and retire to some unknown place to breed. They were formerly a well-known dish at our tables, under the name of flints.