BED-BACKED SANDPIPER 229 



most common of all the waders that winter on the coast. It is a very 

 hardy bird and is apparently not inconvenienced by a temperature of 

 6° above zero." We found it common all winter on the coastal is- 

 lands and mud flats on the west coast of Florida. Mr. Nichols says in 

 his notes : 



Where met with on its winter range in northwest Florida it apparently shifted 

 its feeding grounds with high or low water, at the particular locality in mind, 

 more or less dependent on the wind. When offshore winds caused low tides and 

 extensive mud flats, it was less numerous ; when the water was high, numbers 

 were seen flying over the bay. They were present on inundated landward flats, 

 and, as the tide receded, fed along the edge of the bay near by, wading in the 

 water and often immersing most of the head as they probed. 



According to J. Hooper Bowles (1918) they winter farther north 

 on the Pacific coast than on this side. He writes : 



These birds are among the last of the Limicolae to arrive in the fall migra- 

 tion, often reaching Washington after many of the other species have left for 

 the South. They make up for it, however, by staying with us all winter and 

 late into the spring. On the Nisqually Flats I have seen them in flocks of 

 hundreds when the marsh was a solid pack of snow and ice, the rise and 

 fall of the tide making sufficient feeding grounds to keep them fat and strong. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — North America and eastern Asia; casual in Central 

 America and the West Indies. 



Breeding range. — North to northeastern Siberia (Taimyr Penin- 

 sula, Nijni Kolymsk, Cape Wankarem, and East Cape) ; Alaska 

 (Cape Prince of Wales, Point Barrow, Colville Delta, and Camden 

 Bay) ; Mackenzie (Cape Bathurst, Mackenzie Bay, Franklin Bay, 

 and Baillie Island); and Franklin (Port Kennedy). East to 

 Franklin (Port Kennedy and Felix Harbor) ; and probably eastern 

 Keewatin (Cape Fullerton). South to probably eastern Keewatin 

 (Cape Fullerton) ; northwestern Mackenzie (Great Slave Lake and 

 Peel River); and Alaska (probably Nushagak and Ugashik). 

 West to Alaska (Ugashik, Pastolik, Hooper Bay, and St. Michael) ; 

 and northeastern Siberia (Cape Serdze, Plover Bay, and Taimyr 

 Peninsula). The species also has been recorded as breeding in 

 Greenland, and on the coast of Labrador (Okak), but the records 

 are indefinite or otherwise unsat is factory. 



Winter range. — North to Washington (Dungeness Spit) ; Texas 

 (Refugio County) ; Louisiana (Freshwater Bayou and New 

 Orleans) ; and southern New Jersey (Anglesea). East to southern 

 New Jersey (Anglesea, and Five-mile Beach) ; Virginia (Wallops, 

 Cobbs, Sandy, and Hog Islands) ; North Carolina (Pea Island and 

 Fort Macon) ; South Carolina (Port Royal and Frogmore) ; Georgia 

 (Savannah and Darien) ; and Florida (Amelia Island, Tarpon 

 54267—27 1G 



