RED-BACKED SANDPIPER (Pelidna 

 alpina sakhalina). Otherwise known as 

 "Dunlin," "Black-bellied Sandpiper" and 

 "Winter Snipe." Easily recognized, even 

 when in the gray winter dress, by the rather 

 stout slightly decurved bill. Like Purple 

 Sandpipers they like cold weather, and after 

 breeding along the Arctic coast they pass the 

 winter along our coasts south of Washington 

 on the Pacific and of New Jersey on the 

 Atlantic side. They are rarely met with 

 in the interior except casually along the 

 shores of the Great Lakes. While they are 

 but 9 in. in length, they are so plump and so 

 numerous that some gunners cannot resist 

 the temptation as they wheel over their de- 

 coys, but the majority consider them not 

 worth while as game. They may be found 

 either on the sea beaches or on mud flats. 



SANDERLING (Calidris leucophaa). 

 The lightest colored of the sandpipers, being 

 chiefly white in winter, but in summer having 

 the head and breast more or less washed with 

 rusty. Breeds throughout the Arctic regions 

 of the Northern Hemisphere and, in Amer- 

 ica, winters from the Southern States south 

 to Patagonia. On the coasts and the shores 

 of the Great Lakes they occur abundantly 

 during fall, frequenting the open sea beaches 

 as well as more sheltered bays. Because of 

 their liking for the outer sand bars, they are 

 often called "Surf Snipe." 



Their plump bodies are highly prized by youthful sportsmen, but those of 

 more mature judgment pronounce their length of only 8 in. as below their 

 standard of sportsmanship. 



SEMI-PALM ATED SANDPIPER (Ereunetes pusillus). So called be- 

 cause a small web exists between the outer toes; to gunners they are known, 

 with other small sandpipers, simply as "Peeps." Of the same size as the 

 Least Sandpiper, namely 6 in. in length. Breeds in the Arctic regions and 

 is very abundant during migrations from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky 

 Mountains. West of the Rockies a very similar species, Western Sand- 

 piper (Ereunetes mauri), occurs. Its upper parts are brighter, like those 

 of the Least Sandpiper, and the bill is slightly longer. 



RED-BACKED SANDPIPER 



SANDERLING 

 SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER 



35 



