SANDPIPER, the common English name of a numerous group of birds, generally referred to the family scolopactdm, all formerly included in the genus trinfia, but some now constituting the genera tetanus, pelidna, actitis, etc., of orniihologists. In diame ters and habits they are all very similar. They are not of large size; they are very active and graceful in all their movements; their plumage not gay, but of pleasing and finely diversified colors; their legs are rather long, the lower part of the tibia naked. the tail very short, the moderately. long; the bill rather and slender, grooved throughout the whole or a considerable part of its length, straight in some, and a little arched in others. The feet have three long toes before, and one short toe, behind; the toes in the genus tringa, as now restricted, are partially webbed at the base; in tutann./ they arc completely* separate. They are good swimmers, but are not, however, often seen swimming; they frequent sandy sea-shores, some of them congregating in numer ous flocks in autumn and winter; and seek their food by probing the sand with their bills, and by catching small crustaceans in pools or within the margin of the sea itself.
Many are birds of passage, visiting high northern latitudes in summer, and the winter on the coasts of more southern regions. The flesh of all the species is good, and some of them are in much request for the table.—The British species are numerous. The DUNLIN or PURRE (tringa va•tabilis) is noticed in the article DUNLIN.—The 1C.Nor (tringa,canutus), also known, in different states of plumage, as the RED SANDPIPER and the ASH-COLORED SANDPIPER, is a bird of about 10 in. in length, appearing in great flocks on the British coasts in winter, and equally common in North America.—T1•3