NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 115 



The Least Sandpiper breeds from Canada, Newfoundland and 

 Labrador northward into the Arctic regions, and in Alaska. June 5, 

 1875, one was found building its nest in the vicinity of Chicago, 111. 

 Nests in the Arctic regions are usually mere depressions, lined with 

 leaves and grasses, on the ground, in the vicinity of lakes or ponds. 

 The eggs are usually four in number, and may be found between the 

 latter part of May and June. The eggs are pyriform in shape, the 

 ground color is light drab, thickly sprinkled with reddish-brown spots 

 and purplish-gray. The average size is i.i5x.85. 



[243.] Tringa alpina LINN. [539.] 



Dunlin. 



Hab. Europe, accidental in North America. 



The Purre or Dunlin has a wide distribution in the northern parts 

 of the Old World. By far the most abundant of the British Sand- 

 pipers, being equally distributed in the marshes, on the borders of 

 inland lakes, and along all the seashores from the most northern 

 island to the southern coast of England. The birds usually feed in 

 great numbers after the retiring tide, or on the oozy flats of soft sand 

 or mud, which cover the low-lying shores of the islands. In the spring 

 they separate into pairs, retiring to the marshes and shores of inland 

 lakes and muirs to breed. Their nests are made at the foot of a small 

 bush or tuft of grass, often so concealed as to be very difficult to find. 

 A few bits of grass or moss form the lining of the slight cavity, in 

 which usually four eggs are deposited. They vary in ground color 

 from greenish-white, yellow, gray and often inclining to light blue; 

 they are spotted and blotched irregularly with reddish-brown; the 

 spots becoming more numerous toward the larger end. Four speci- 

 mens measure 1.54x1.14, 1.53x1.08, 1.59x1.15, 1.51x1.10. 



243. Tringa alpina pacifica (COUES.) [5390.] 



Red-backed Sandpiper. 



Hab. North America in general, breeding in high latitudes. Eastern Asia. 



This is the American Dunlin, Black-bellied Sandpiper, or Ox bird ; 

 it is larger and brighter colored than T. alpina. Distributed through- 

 out the whole of North America, and breeds in the Arctic regions, mi- 

 grating in winter in the United States, especially coastwise. 



Breeds in various places on the Alaskan coast at the mouth of 

 the Yukon and in the salt marshes of Norton Sound. It has also been 

 found breeding on the Arctic coast of North America, on Melville 

 Peninsula, the shores of Davis Strait and in Southern Greenland. 



The nest is built in the vicinity of lakes and ponds or in marshes ; 

 it is a slight hollow with merely a few dry grasses and leaves scraped 



