358 The tVater-fowl Family 



Adult male and female in winter — Top of head and neck, dark 

 gray, streaked with white ; upper parts, back, and scapulars, gray, 

 feathers tipped with white ; under parts, white ; sides of face, 

 neck, and breast, striped or barred with gray. 



Young — Above, light ashy gray, darkest on the back, each feather 

 bordered with white, with a dusky edge ; upper tail-coverts, 

 white, marked with dusky ; lower parts, whitish, becoming pure 

 white on the abdomen ; neck and breast, marked with streaks 

 and flecks of dusky ; an indistinct, light superciliary stripe. 



Downy young — Buff to cream color, marked above with black and 

 rufous, the black markings exceeding the ground color on 

 crown, back, and rump. 



Measurements — Length, 10 inches; wing, 6.50 inches; tail, 2.50 

 inches; bill, 1.50 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 



Eggs — Probably four in number, resemble a snipe's, and measure 

 1.60 by 1. 10 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds in northern Greenland, Grinnell Land, Melville 

 Island and Peninsula, and possibly in Iceland and near Point 

 Barrow, Alaska. Winters from southern Florida and the West 

 Indies to Trinidad, French Guiana, and Brazil. In migrations 

 formerly abundant, but rapidly becoming rare on the Atlantic 

 Coast of North America, rare in the interior, and very rare on 

 the Pacific Coast, except possibly in British Columbia. In the 

 migrations the knot occurs throughout most of the eastern 

 hemisphere, but does not breed, unless in Iceland. Winters 

 from the coast of the Mediterranean to South Africa on the 

 Atlantic ; in India, Australia, and New Zealand. 



The red-breasted sandpiper has a world-wide 

 distribution and is a universal favorite among our 

 shore-birds. In this country it goes by many 

 different names; the usual ones are knot, robin- 

 snipe, Maybird, red-breasted plover, robin's breast. 

 Its common range is along the Atlantic Coast; but 

 the bird is occasionally taken in the interior, and 

 has been found on the Pacific Coast of Alaska. 



