SCOLOPACIBJE : SANDPIPERS. 631 



Below, silvery-white ; above, rich reddish-brown, varied with white, with curious little rouud 

 dots, like mildew. Each such spot is as large as a pin-head, and, under a lens, is seen to be 

 the enlarged brushy end of a down-feather, whence several tiny bristles sprout. Each such 

 plume is white at base, then black, then white-tufted as said ; the dotted areas thus correspond 

 to the areas of black variegation, but there are, also, a black undotted frontal hue, loral stripes, 

 and some other marldugs. Only known from the Prybilov or Fur Seal Islands, where it breeds, 

 and northward to St. Matthew and St. Lawrence Islands. Eggs 4, like those of A. mariUma. 



237. PETjID'NA. (Gr. neXidms, peUdnos, gray?) DuNLiN SANDPIPERS. Bill stout, much 

 lono-er than head or tarsus, slightly deourved, tip somewhat expanded and punctulate ; grooves 

 in both mandibles deep and distinct. Wings moderate; tertials long and flowing. Tail 

 moderate, doubly-emarginate, the central feathers projecting. Legs rather long; tarsus not 

 shorter than middle toe and claw, if anything longer. Bare portion of tibia more than half 

 the tarsus. Toes rather long, cleft to the base, narrowly margined. Contains a few species 

 or varieties in summer reddish above, with a great black abdominal area. 



Analysis of Varieties. 

 Smiillest: length about 8.00; bill, average, 1.40; tarsus little if any longer than middle toe and claw; 



tarsus and middle toe together 1.75 aljyma 623 



Medium : length about 8.50 ; bill, average, 1.70 ; disproportionately longer, stouter, more decurved ; tarsus 



decidedly longer than middle toe and claw; tarsus and middle toe together 2.00 .... americana 624 

 [Largest: hill and legs still longer than in the last. Pacific Coast, N. A ? ]>acijica] 



623. P. alpi'ua. (Lat. n/Ipma, alpine.) European Dunlm. Purre. Differing as above said from 

 the N. A. species. Straggler to Greenland. 



624. P. a. america'na. (Fig. 439.) American Dunlin. Black-bbllied Sandpiper. Red- 

 backed Sandpiper. Ox-bird. Bill longer than head or tarsus, compressed at the base, rather 

 depressed at the end, and usually appreciably 



decurved. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 15.00; 

 wing 4.50-.5.00; tail 3.00-2.33; biU 1.50- 

 1.75 ; tibiae bare about 0.50; tarsus 1.00 or 

 rather more ; middle toe and claw 1.00 or 

 rather less. Adult in summer : Above, chest- 

 nut-red, each feather with a central black 

 field, and most of them tipped with whitish ; 



rump and upper taU-coverts blackish ; tail- 



/■ ,1 T . ,1 .1 Fig. 439. — BiUajidfoot of Pelidna alpina americana, 



feathers and wmg-coverts ashy-gray, the ^^^^^^^ (Adnat. del. E. C.) 



greater coverts tipped with white ; quills 



dusky with pale shafts ; secondaries mostly white, and inner primaries edged with the same ; 



outer webs of primaries blackish, some of the inner ones white-edged toward the base ; 



secondaries mostly white. Under parts white ; belly with a broad, jet-black area ; breast 



and jugulum thickly streaked with dusky. Bill and feet black. Adult in -ivinter, and 



young : Above, plain ashy-gray, ■with dark shaft lines, with or without red or black traces. 



Below, white, with little or no trace of black on belly; jugulum with few dusky streaks and 



an ashy suffusion. White edgings of inner primaries very conspicuous. The summer dress is 



long worn ; it is assumed more or less perfectly in April, and many come from the nortli still 



wearing it. All of N. Am., breeding in high latitudes, migrating through and wintering in the 



U. S., preferably coastwise; common, in flocks on the beaelies and elsewhere. 



238. ANCYLOCHI'LUS. (Gr. dyKvXoxeiKos, agkulocheilos, having a curved hUl.) CuRLEV^^ 

 Sandpipers. Bill much longer than the head, slender, compressed, considerably decurved, 

 the tip not expanded, and rather hard. Grooves in both mandibles very narrow but distinct. 

 Wings long, pointed. Tail very short, nearly even. Legs long, slender ; tarsus and tibia 

 both lengthened, the latter exposed for nearly or quite half the length of the former, which is 



