242 



PK.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^. 



/3. Americana. THE AMERICAN RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 



Tringa alpina, AVii.s. Am. Oni. VII. 1813, 25, pi. 56, fig. 2 (nee Ltnx.) — Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 



1831, 383. — NuTT. Man. II. 1834, 106. — AuD. Om. Biog. III. 1835, 580, pi. 290; Synop. 



1839, 234 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 266. 

 Trltiria alpina, var. amcricana, Cass, in Baiid's B. N. Am. 1858, 719. — Baiud, Cat. N. Am. B. 



1859, no. 530. — CouES, Key, 1872, 256 ; Cheek Li.st, 1873, 424 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 489. 

 Tringa varialilis, Sabine, Suppl. Parry's First Voy. p. cc. 

 " Tringa cinclus," WiL.s. Am. Orn. Vli. 1813, 39, pi. 57, fig. 3 (nee Linn.). 

 Fclidna pacifica, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sei. Pliilad. 1861, 189 (in text). 

 Pclidna alpina a.mericana, Hidgw. Proe. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 2U0 ; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no, 



539a. —Coues, Cheek List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 624. 



Hab. Of true alpina, the Palccarctic Region, accidental in North America (Hudson's Bay : 

 Blakiston, " Ibis," 1863, 132). Of americana, North America in general, breeding far northward, 

 and straggling to eastern coast of Asia. 



Sp. Char. (P. amcricana). Adult in summer : Crown, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts, light rufou.s the crown streaked, other parts spotted, with black ; wing-coverts brownish 

 gray, the greater broadly tipiifd 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 xoin- 

 ter : Above entirely plain ash-gray, sometimes with very indistinct dusky shaft-streaks ; indistinct 

 superciliary stripe and lower parts white, the neck and jugulum indistinctly streaked with grayish, 

 the sides flanks, and cris.sum sometimes sparsely streaked. Young : Back and scapulars black, the 

 feathers broadly bordered with rusty ochraceous, this becoming paler, or even white, on the ends 

 of some of the feathers ; lesser and middle wing-coverts bordered with buft' ; rump plain brownish 

 slate ; upper tail-coverts darker, tippcil with rusty ; crown light rusty, streaked with black. Head 

 and neck (except crown and throat) dull dingy baft', indistinctly streaked with dusky ; remaining 

 U)wer parts, including throat, white, the breast and belly with nuiuerous irregularly cordate spots 

 of black, the flanks, crissum, and lining of the wing immaculate. " Bill and feet black; iris dark 

 brown" (Audubon). 



Total length, about 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.60-4.95 ; culmen, I.40-I.75; tarsus, 1.00-1.15 ; mid- 

 dle toe, .70-.80. 



There is a considerable amount of individual variation in this species, especially noticeable in 

 the extent and continuity of the black abdominal area, the distinctness of the black markings 

 above, and the depth of tlie rufous tint ; not infrequently the latter is mixed with grayish. In 

 the winter plumage, some examples have the sides and crissum narrowly streaked, while in others 

 these parts are immaculate. 



American specimens differ constantly, though slightly, from European ones in their larger size 

 and, in the summer plumage, lighter colors. In three adults of the European bird in summer plu- 

 mage, the black largely predominates on the dorsal surface, while the ochraceous is much less rusty 

 thuTi in American examples ; the breast is also much more heavily streaked. In the winter pin- 



