BCULOrAClDxE — TUE SNIPE FAMILY. 51 



Subgenus Pelidna Cuvikk. 



Pelldna Cuv. R6g. Anim. 1817. -OO; ed. 2, 1829, 520. Type. Tringa atuina LiNN. 



Chab. Bill slender, longer than the head, deep through the ba90. compressed, scarcely 

 ji not at all expanded at the tip, and docidodly deeurved terminally. Tarsus shorter than 

 the bill, longer than the middle toe. Wings reaching beyond end of tail. 



The subgenus Pdidna iucludes two well-known Sandpipers, both 

 of which are common to Nortli America and Europe, although 

 one of them, the Curlew Sandpiper, P. /erruginea, can scarcely 

 be considered as more than a straggler here. The other is repre- 

 sented in the two continents by distinguishable races. The char- 

 act^ers of the species and races of Pelidna are as follows: 



1. T. alpina. Upper tail-coverts dusky. .4(i«Z< m SMmmer; Belly black, other lower parts 



whitish. Winter plumaqe: No black beneath; above, uniform brownish gray. Young: 



Belly and breast spotted with black. 

 a. alpina. Wing, 4.30-4.75; culmen, 1.15-1.40; tarsus, .85-1.00; middle toe, .70-. 75. Hah. 



Europe, etc. 

 /3. pacifica. Wing, 4.60-4.95; culmen, 1.40-1.75; tarsus, 1.00-1.15; middle toe, .70-. 75. 



Hab. North America and Eastern Asia. 



2. T. ferruginea. Upper tail-coverts white. ^cZ^t^ri'n SMmmc?*; Beneath, including belly, 



deep einnamon-rufou . Winter plumage: Beneath, white, indistinctly streaked on 

 the jugulum; above, brownish gray. Young: Belly and breast unspotted, Jial-.. 

 Palaearctic Region; occasional in northern and eastern North America. 



Tringa alpina pacifica (Coues). 



RED-BACKED SANDPIPER 

 Popular synonyms. Stile (Plymouth Bay. Mass.); American Dunlin. 



Tringa alpina Wils. Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 25, pi. 56, fie. 2 [nee LiNN.).— Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. ii, 



1831, GSi.— NuTT. Man. ii, 1834, 106.— AuD. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 580, pi. 290. Synop. 1S3J. 



234; B. Am. v, 1842,266. 

 Tringa cinclus Wils. Am. Orn. vii, 1813, 39, pi. 57, flg. 3 (nee LiNN.). 

 Tringa alpina var. americana Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 719.— Baikd, Cat. N. Am. 



B, 1859. No. 530.— CouES, Key, 1872, 256; Check List, 1874, 424; Birds N. W. 1874, 4«9. 

 Pelidna alpina americana Ridgw. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 200; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, 



No. 539a.— CouEs, Check List, 2d ed. 18»2, No. 624. 

 Pelidna pacifica CouEs, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1861, 189 (in text). 

 Tringa alpina pacifica RiuGW. in A. O. U. Check List, I8S6.JN0. 243a; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 



100. 



Pelidna alpina, /3. pacifica B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i. 1884, 242. 



Hab. North America in general; breeding far northward; eastern Asia. 



Sp. Chab. Adult in summer: Crown, back, .'scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 light rufous, the crown streaked, other parts spotted with black; wing-coverts brownish 

 gray, the greater l>roadly tipped with white. Head (except crown), neck, jugulum. and 

 breast, grayish white, streaked with dusky; abdomen black; sides, tlanks, anal region, 

 crissum. and lining of the wing, pure white, the sides, flanks, and crissum sparsely 

 streaked. Adult and young in winter: Above, entirely plain ash-gray, sometimes with 

 very indistinct dusky shaft-streaks; indistinct superciliary stripe and lower parts white, 



