12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



range the long bill and brown back of the Dowitcher compared 

 with the shorter bill and gray back of the Knot make identification 

 easy. The call of the Dowitcher resembles that of the Yellow-legs 

 very much, but sounds to me more rapid and less musical. In 

 a flock of Knots great variation in color is noticeable, grading all 

 the way from the "Robin Snipe" type — ^with a rusty brown 

 breast, to plain gray birds. This variation in spring plumage is 

 also apparent among the Dowitchers and to a lesser degree 

 among nearly all the shore birds, due to the retention of more 

 or less of the winter plumage and the duller color of the females. 



A four days' stay at Cape May, June 18 to 21, yielded Greater 

 Yellow-legs, Semi-palmated Sandpipers and Woodcock. A side trip 

 some miles up the coast to Grassy Sound, June 20, added Knots, 

 Least Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plover, Turnstones' 

 and two Red-backed Sandpipers. The last named were the first 

 I had ever seen on the Jersey coast in the spring. In spring plum- 

 age there is little trouble in identifying these birds. The brownish 

 back and black belly being excellent field marks. It would be 

 quite natural to think any Sandpiper with black under parts 

 would be Red-backed. But is it? On one occassion I was 

 going through a flock of "Peeps" searching for strays, when I saw 

 a bird with an unmistakable black belly. My first thought was a 

 Red-backed Sandpiper, but it did not look quite right, and care- 

 ful investigation revealed the fact that it was a Semi-palmated 

 Sandpiper that had squatted down in some oil and converted 

 itself into quite a semblance of a Red-back. In the fall the 

 Red-back is a different looking bird. The dark under parts are 

 missing. The back is lead gray, and due to this the baymen call 

 it "Lead-back," to distinguish it from Brown-back or " Dowitcher" 

 and Gray-back or " Knot. " At ail seasons the bird can be told by 

 its slightly decurved bill, if the observer can get close enough to 

 see it. The call of those I have heard closely resembles that of 

 other smaller Sandpipers, approaching the notes of the Sanderling 

 more than any others. 



On this occasion two colonies of Common Terns with about 

 200 birds each, and a colony of Skimmers with about 40 birds 

 were found. Amid the whining of Terns and baying of the Skim- 

 mers a sharp musical note was heard resembling the "blink" of an 



