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THE RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 



Tringa ALPiNA, Linn. 



PLATE CCXC. Male in Summer, and Adult in Winter. 



In autumn and winter, this species is abundant along the whole range 

 of our coast, wherever the shores are sandy or muddy, from Maine to the 

 mouths of the Mississippi ; but I never found one far inland. Sometimes 

 they collect into flocks of several hundred individuals, and are seen wheel- 

 ing over the water near the shores or over the beaches, in beautiful order, 

 and now and then so close together as to afford an excellent shot, especially 

 when they suddenly alight in a mass near the sportsman, or when, swiftly 

 veering, they expose their lower parts at the same moment. On such occa- 

 sions a dozen or more may be killed at once, provided the proper moment 

 is chosen. 



There seems to be a kind of impatience in this bird that prevents it 

 from remaining any length of time in the same place, and you may see it 

 scarcely alighted on a sand-bar, fly off" without any apparent reason to 

 another, where it settles, runs for a few moments, and again starts off on 

 wing. When searching for food they run with great agility, following 

 the retiring waves, and retreating as they advance, probing the wet sands, 

 and picking up objects from their surface, ever jerking up the tail, and 

 now and then uttering a faint cry, pleasant to the ear, and differing from 

 the kind of scream which they emit while on wing. 



When I was in the Floridas in winter, I found this species abundant, 

 and my party shot a great number of them, on account of the fatness and 

 juiciness of their flesh. They all appeared to have their plumage greyer 

 than those shot in the Carolinas at the same season, and not one exhibited 

 the least redness on the back, although that colour is so conspicuous in 

 spring before they leave us for the north. They usually take their de- 

 parture from the south about the first of April, reach the Middle Dis- 

 tricts by the fifteenth of that month, and in a few days assume their summer 

 plumage. I have observed that at this season the male birds are frequently 

 in the habit of raising their wings and running in that position for a few 

 steps, when they close them, and nod to the nearest female. None of the 

 other sex, however, seemed to take the least notice of this homage. On 



