128 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



Saddle-back. See Black-backed Gull. 



Sanderling, Ruddy Plover, or Surf Snipe. 



Length, eight inches; extent, fifteen inches; bill, one inch, 

 black; head, rusty, with black centres to the feathers; 

 back, black centered feathers, edged with rusty brown 

 and ashy; breast, rusty brown, spotted with black; belly, 

 white; sides, white; tail, black and white; wings, dark 

 slaty brown, with white bar; legs and feet, black; a mark 

 distinguishing this bird from Snipes and Sandpipers is the 

 fact that it has only three toes. In fall and winter the 

 upper parts are a pale gray with black- centered feathers 

 and the entire under parts are white. 



The nest is made of hay and decayed leaves. The eggs 

 are four in number, of a brownish olive with spots of 

 dark olive brown, and one and two-fifths by nine-tenths 

 of an inch in size. 



The birds breed in the far north and spend the winter 

 in the Southern Atlantic States and South America. 

 They are abundant in New Jersey from April 18 to June 

 1 and again from September 14 to October 15, being gen- 

 erally found along the sea coast and rarely on mud flats 

 near bays. 



Their food consists of minute shellfish and insects left 

 by the tide. 



Sand, Ox-eye. See Semi-palmated Sandpiper. 



Sandpiper, Barlramian, Grass Plover, Upland 

 Plover, or Field Plover. Length, twelve inches; ex- 

 tent, twenty-one inches. The bill is an inch and a half 

 long, slightly bent downwards, wrinkled at the base, the 

 upper part black on its ridge, the lower as well as the 

 edge of the upper, a fine yellow; front, stripe over the 

 eye neck and breast, pale brown, marked with small 

 streaks of black, which on the lower part of the breast 

 assume the form of arrowheads; crown, black, the plu- 

 mage thickly skirted with white; chin and whole belly, 



