140 NESTS AND EOas OF 



the Arctic regions are usually mere depressions,' lined with leaves and grasses, on the 

 ground, in the vicinity of lakes or ponds. The eggs are usually four in number, and 

 may be found between the latter part of May and June. The eggs are pyriform in 

 shape, the ground color is light drab, thickly sprinkled with reddish-brown spots 

 and purplish-gray. The average size is 1.15x.85. 



[242. 1.] LONG-TOED STINT. Triiiya damacensis (Horsf.) Geog. Dist. — 

 Asia, breeding toward the Arctic coast; accidental in Alaska (Otter Island, Bering 

 Sea). 



From Daniel Giraud Elliot's "North American Shore Birds" I take the follow- 

 ing; "This species is a miniature Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, without the lengthened 

 tail and proportionately much longer toes. It also resembles the Least Sandpil)er 

 on the back, but exhibits very much more chestnut on the margin of the feathers of 

 the back and head. The breast band is differently colored also. It is taken into 

 the North American fauna from the fact that a specimen was procured on Otter 

 Island, Alaska, June 8, 1885, as stated by Mr. Ridgway in The Aiik for 1886. It is an 

 Asiatic species going as far east as Japan, and also found in the Indian Archipelago. 

 It can only be regarded as an accidental straggler to our shores. On Bering Island, 

 Stejneger observed it in large flocks in May, when it frequented the beach, and was 

 very active engaged in picking up sm^ll crustaceous from the floating weeds which 

 the surf had cast ashore. A few remained to breed, but the majority passed farther 

 north. He was unable to find the nest." 



[243.] DUNLIN. Tringa alpina Linn. Geog. Dist. — Europe; accidental in. 

 North America. 



The Purre or Dunlin has a wide distribution in the northern parts of the Old 

 World. By far the most abundant of the British Sandpipers, being equally dis- 

 tributed in the marshes, on the borders of inland lakes, and along all the seashores 

 from the most northern island to the southern coast of England. The birds usually 

 feed in great numbers after the retiring tide, or on the oozy flats of soft" sand or 

 mud, which cover the low-lying shores of the islands. In the spring they separate 

 into pairs, retiring to the marshes and shores of inland lakes and muirs to breed. 

 Their nests are made at the foot of a small bush or tuft of grass, often so concealed 

 as to be very difficult to And. A few bits of grass or moss form the lining of the 

 slight cavity, in which usually four eggs are deposited. They vary in ground color 

 from greenish-white, yellow, gray and often inclining to light blue; they are spotted 

 and blotched irregularly with reddish-brown; the spots becoming more numerous 

 toward the larger end. Pour specimens measure 1.54x1.14, 1.53x1.08, 1.59x1.15 1 51 

 xl.lO. 



243a. RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. Tringa alpina pacifica (Cones.) Geog. 

 Dist.— North America in general, breeding in high latitudes. Eastern Asia. 



This is the American Dunlin, Black-bellied Sandpiper, or Ox bird; it is larger 

 and brighter colored than T. alpina. Distributed throughout the whole of North 

 America, and breeds in the Arctic regions, migrating in winter in the United States, 

 especially coastwise. Breeds in various places on the Alaskan coast— at the mouth 

 of the Yukon and in the salt marshes of Norton Sound. It has also been found breed- 

 ing on the Arctic coast of North America, on Melville Peninsula, the shores of Davis 

 Strait and in Southern Greenland. The nest is built in the vicinity of lakes and 

 ponds or in marshes; it is a slight hollow with merely a few dry grasses and leaves 



