126 WADING BIRDS. 



Senegal, another from the Cape of Good Hope (as is also 

 indicated by Latham's name of the Cape Curlew), and a third 

 from North America. 



The Curlew Sandpiper is not an uncommon bird in Europe, but, 

 excepting in Greenland and Alaska, few examples have been met 

 with in America, and those were seen along the New England 

 coast and in Ontario. It is supposed to breed throughout the 

 entire Arctic regions, but of its nesting habits very httle is 

 known. 



Though an exceedingly active bird, when feeding, it proceeds 

 quite leisurely with its migrations, and while on these journeys 

 frequents the salt-marshes and the tide-washed sandbars near the 

 mouths of rivers. 



In many habits and in flight it resembles the DunHn, for which it 

 is often mistaken. This mistake is liable to be made in winter, 

 when the plumage of the two are very similar. In summer dress 

 our bird appears somewhat like a small edition of the Knot. 



RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 



dunlin. black-breast. black-bellied sandpiper, 

 black-heart. winter snipe. 



Tringa alpina pacifica. 



Char. Adult in summer: upper parts chestnut, streaked with black; 

 wings and tail ashy gray ; throat and breast grayish white with dark 

 streaks; lower breast black ; belly white. Adult in winter: upper parts 

 brownish gray or ashy gray ; under parts white, neck and chest streaked 

 sparingly with gray. In young birds the feathers on the upper parts are 

 bordered with rufous or buff, the top of the head is light chestnut and 

 black, and the under parts are white, spotted with black. Length 8 to 8J4 

 inches. 



Nest. Amid long grass on a salt-marsh or beneath a bunch of heather 

 on a moor or hillside, — a slight depression, lined with grass, leaves, or 

 moss. 



Eggs. 4 ; dull buff tinged with brown or olive, marked with chestnut ; 

 1.45 X 1. 00. 



The Dunlin, or Red-backed Sandpiper, of the United States^ 

 according to the season of the year, is met with throughout 

 the northern hemisphere, penetrating, in America, during the 

 summer season, to the utmost habitable verge of the Arctic 



