Calidris minutilla
Order Charadriiformes
Family Scolopacidae
Subfamily Arenariinae
Adult.— Feathers of the head and back black, edged with gray or chestnut; sides of head, neck, and breast streaked with brown; belly white; legs greenish-yellow.
Immature.— Upper parts much as in adult; breast dusky, very indistinctly streaked with darker; rest of under parts white.
The Least Sandpiper is a common migrant along the coast in May, and again in July, August, and early September. Like the other common sandpipers, it occasionally occurs on inland ponds and rivers, and it is tolerably common in the Hudson Valley in May. This species and the Semipalmated Sandpiper are the first to return from the north, reaching Massachusetts early in July. By the end of August it has nearly completed its migration, though the Semipalmated Sandpiper is found throughout September.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)