SCOLOPACIDJE THE SNIPE FAMILY. 51 



SUBGENUS Pelidna CUVIER. 



Pelidna Cuv. Reg. Anim. 1817. 490; ed. 2, 1829, 526. Type, Tringa alpina LINN. 



CHAB. Bill slender, longer than the head, deep through the base, compressed, scarcely 

 or not at all expanded at the tip, and decidedly decurved terminally. Tarsus shorter than 

 the bill, longer than the middle toe. Wings reaching beyond end of tail. 



The subgenus Pelidna includes two well-known Sandpipers, both 

 of which are common to North America and Europe, although 

 one of them, the Curlew Sandpiper, P. fei'niyhiea, can scarcely 

 be considered as more than a straggler here. The other is repre- 

 sented in the two continents by distinguishable races. The char T 

 acters of the species and races of Pelidna are as follows: 



1. T. alpina. Upper tail-coverts dusky. Adult in summer: Belly black, other lower parts 



whitish. Winter plumage: No black beneath ; above, uniform brownish gray. Young: 

 Belly and breast spotted with black. 



a. alpina. Wing, 4.30-4.75; culmen, 1.15-1.40; tarsus, .85-1.00; middle toe, .70-.75. Hob. 

 Europe, etc. 



/?. pacifica. Wing, 4.60-4.95; culmen, 1.40-1.75; tarsus, 1.00-1.15; middle toe, .70-. 75. 

 Hal). North America and Eastern Asia. 



2. T. ferruginea. Upper tail-coverts white. Adult in summer: Beneath, including belly, 



deep cinnamon- rufou '. Winter plumage: Beneath, white, indistinctly streaked on 

 the jugulum; above, brownish gray. Young: Belly and breast unspoiled T 

 Palaearctie Region ; occasional in northern and eastern North America. 



Tring-a alpina pacifica (Coues). 



RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 

 Popular synonyms. Stile (Plymouth Bay, Mass.); American Dunlin. 



Tringa alpina WILS. Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 25, pi. 56, tie. 2 (nee LINN.). Sw. & RICH. F. B.-A. ii, 



1831, 383. NUTT. Man. ii, 1834, 106. -Auo. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 580, pi. 290. Synop. 1839, 



234; B. Am. v, 1842,266. 



Tringa cinclus WILS. Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 39. pi. 57, fig. 3 (nee LINN.). 

 Tringa alpina var. americana CASS. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 719. BAIBD, Cat. N. Am. 



B, 1859, No. 530. COUES, Key, 1872, 256; Check List, .1874, 424; Birds N. W. 1874, 489. 

 Pelidna alpina americana RIDGW. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 200; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, 



No. 539<i. COUES, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 624. 

 Pelidna pacifica COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1861, 189 (in text). 

 Tringa alpina pacifica RIDGW. in A. O. U. Check List, 1886,}No. 243a; Man. N. Am, B. 1887. 



160. 



Pelidna alpina, /3. pacifica B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 242. 

 HAB. North America in general; breeding far northward; eastern Asia. 



SP. CHAB. Adult in summer: Crown, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 light rufous, the crown streaked, other parts spotted with black; wing-coverts brownish 

 gray, the greater broadly tipped with white. Head (except crown), neck, jugulum, and 

 breast, grayish white, streaked with dusky; abdomen black; sides, flanks, anal region, 

 crissum, and lining of the wing, pure white, the sides, flanks, and crissum sparsely 

 streaked. Adult and young in winter: Above, entirely plain ash-gray, sometimes with 

 very indistinct dusky shaft-streaks; indistinct superciliary stripe and lower parts white, 



