268 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



the sides of the neck, but it is almost impossible to distin- 

 guish the two without shooting them, unless one can get 

 near enough to see the color of the legs. Dr. C. W. Town- 

 send has called my attention to the fact that the legs of 

 the Least Sandpiper are greenish-yellow, while the Semi- 

 palmated Sandpiper has black legs. 



Red-backed Sandpiper ; Dunlin. Pelidna alpina 

 pacifica 



8.00. Bill 1.50 



Ad. in spring. — Back and wings tinged with considerable 

 reddish-brown; head, neck, and breast light gray; belly black; 

 bill slightly curved. Ad. in fall. — Upper parts ashy-gray; lower 

 parts white; neck and upper breast tinged with gray; bill slightly 

 curved. Im. — Back blackish, the feathers bordered with rusty; 

 head and neck dull buff, streaked with dusky; breast buffy-white, 

 streaked with black; belly white, spotted with black; bill as in ad. 



The Dunlin is a rare spring and not uncommon autumn 

 migrant along the coast, occurring in May, and from the 



'S'm \ 

 V 



Fig. 79. Red-backed Sandpiper 



middle of September to December. It feeds on the outer 

 sand-beaches and mud-flats, either alone or in company with 

 Sanderling and plover. Its note may be written peurr. 



