THE RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 
657 
3 or 4, light drab or grayish buff, speckled and spotted with deep chestnut and 
purplish gray. Av. size, 1.15 x .85 (29.2 x 21.1). 
General Range.—The whole of North and South America, breeding north 
of the United States. 
Range in Washington.—Common migrant thruout the State. 
Authorities.—7. wilsonii, Nutt., Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. [X., 1858, p. 
GAD, Mag (Sey IWAN IDES ID, 1B) 1B, 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. E. 
IT is with a distinct sense of privilege that one is permitted to gaze upon 
a company of these elfin waders at meal time. Not soon shall I forget a Sun- 
day stroll which led past the corner of a certain brick-yard pond on a bright 
May afternoon. A tiny babel of soft peeping had given us warning of what 
we might expect to see, if we managed to steal up to the edge of the shallow 
cut unobserved. By exercising care and patience, both my wife and I suc- 
ceeded in seating ourselves on the near brink without alarming the little 
strangers. They seemed to accept us as a part of their gracious horizon, 
which is the birthright of both innocence and optimism. So confiding were 
they that at a distance of thirty feet they not only went on in their quest of 
food, but one had a sound nap on shore, a Sunday nap, with his head tucked 
snugly beneath his wing. 
In their search for food the Peeps appeared to depend entirely upon their 
bright eyes to spy tidbits and unguessable delicacies in the shallow water or on 
the oozy bottom; and they waded about, belly deep, thrusting their heads un- 
der water as fearlessly as ducks. There was little said except when some 
member of the party flew further than usual, when they set up a quaint clamor, 
which seemed like a faint echo of the far-sounding surf on Arctic seas. The 
travellers were scrupulously neat in their habits, dividing their time about 
equally between dabbling in the water for food and making their toilets on 
shore. A few hours for rest and refreshment beside a prosy brick-yard pond 
in the Southland, and then,—Heigh ho! for Point Barrow! 
No. 264. 
RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 
A. O. U. No. 243 a. Pelidna alpina sakhalina ( Vieill.). 
Synonyms.—AMERICAN DUNLIN. OX-BIRD. 
Description.—4 dult in winter: Above, nearly uniform light brownish gray, 
the feathers slightly darker centrally, or with dusky mesial streaks; primary- 
coverts and wing-quills blackish; the greater coverts white-tipped ; the inner pri- 
maries narrowly white-edged; the secondaries increasingly white on the inner 
web; the tertials almost entirely white; upper tail-coverts like back or darker, but 
