Shore-bird Shooting 383 



dusky ; throat and lower parts, white ; the breast and belly, 

 irregularly marked with black ; iris, dark brown ; bill and feet, 

 black. 



Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.75 inches; culmen, 

 1.50 inches; tarsus, i.io inches; middle toe, .75 inch. 



Eggs — Four in number ; color, pale green, spotted and blotched with 

 dark brown ; measure i .43 by i inches. 



Habitat — Breeds probably in Greenland and from Hudson Bay 

 to Davis Strait, Melville Peninsula, Point Barrow, Alaska, along 

 the coast to the Yukon, and through eastern Siberia to the 

 Yenisei River. Winters from New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas, 

 and California, south at least to Nicaragua, and in Asia from 

 China and Japan to the Malay Archipelago. 



The American red-backed sandpiper is closely 

 allied to the European dunlin, the two varieties 

 being almost indistinguishable, save for a slight 

 difference in size, the American bird being some- 

 what larger. This species is well known along 

 both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and occurs 

 to a less extent in the interior, having been found 

 common in the neighborhood of the Salt Lake 

 and portions of the Missouri and Mississippi 

 valleys. In the fall the red-backed sandpiper 

 is a regular migrant on the New England coast, 

 arriving in small flocks. It is found on the sandy 

 beaches, and I have often noticed them on the 

 outer rocky islands and breakwaters. The birds 

 are active and restless, feeding a few minutes in 

 some spot, then taking wing and settling a short 

 distance off. While flying the flocks bunch up and 

 a single shot is often very destructive. Farther 

 south their numbers increase, and about the 



