476 RED-BACKED SANI PIPER. 
here is but transient, chiefly in Apri. and May, while passing to the 
arctic regions to breed; and in September and October, when on its 
return southward to winter quarters. During their stay, they seldom 
collect in separate flocks by themselves, but mix with various other 
species of strand birds, among whom they are rendered conspicuous 
by the red color of the upper part of their plumage. They frequent 
the muddy flats and shores of the salt marshes at low water, feeding 
on small worms, and other insects, which generally abound in such 
places. In the month of May, they are extremely fat. 
This bird is said to inhabit Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, the 
Alps of Siberia, and, in its migrations, the coasts of the Caspian Sea.* 
It has not, till now, been recognized by naturalists as inhabiting this 
part of North America. Wherever its breeding place may be, it 
probably begins to lay at a late period of the season, as, in numbers 
of females which I examined on the Ist of June, the eggs were no 
larger than grains of mustard seed. 
Length of the Red-Back, eight inches anda half; extent, fifteen 
inches; bill, black, longer than the head, (which would seem to rank 
it with the Snipes,) slightly bent, grooved on the upper mandible, and 
wrinkled at the base ; crown, back, and scapulars, bright reddish rust, 
spotted with black; wing-coverts, pale olive; quills, darker ; the first 
tipped, the latter crossed with white; front, cheeks, hind head, and 
arctic expedition on the borders of the lakes which skirt the Saskatchewan plains. 
So nearly allied to 7. alpina, as to be confounded with it; differs in size, and the 
distribution of markings. 
Tringa pectoralis, Eada: Pelinda pectoralis of Say. This seems to have been 
first noticed in the valuable notes to Major Laing’s expedition to the Rocky Moun- 
tains. The following description is there given by Say : — 
P. pectoralis, Say. Bull, black, reddish yellow at base ; upper mandible, with a 
few indented punctures near the tip; head above, black, plumage margined with 
ferruginous, a distinct brown line from the eye to the upper mandible ; pieeks, and 
neck beneath, cinereous, very slightly tinged with rufous, and lineate with blackish ; 
orbits, and line over the eye, white ; chin, white ; neck above, dusky, plumage mar- 
gined with cinereous ; scapulars, interscapulars, and wing-coverts, black, margined 
with ferruginous, and, near the exterior tips, with whitish; primaries, dusky, 
slightly edged with whitish ; outer quill-shaft, white ; back, (beneath the interseap- 
ulars,) ramp, and tail-coverts, black, immaculate ; tail-feathers, dusky, margined 
with white at tip, two intermediate ones Jongest, acute, altaining the tip of the 
wings, black, edged with ferruginous ; breast, venter. vent, and inferior tail-coverts, 
white, plumage, blackish at base; sides, white, the plumage towards the tail 
slightly lineate with dusky; feet, greenish yellow; toes, divided to the base; 
length, nearly nine inches; bill, 11-8. 
. Douglasii, Swainson. Described in the Northern Zoology, from a specimen 
killed on the Saskatchewan, and is not uncommon in the Fur Countries, up to the 
60th parallel. ‘[he authors express a kind of doubt regarding this species, having 
been unable to compare it with a specimen of Bonaparte’s 7’. himantopus ; but 
mention the tail as even with the central feathers alone, longest, and not barred 
with ferruginous ; with chestnut-colored ear-fez thers, and somewhat smaller in size. 
To these neally undescribed species, the Prmce of Musignano mentions, in his 
catalogue, 7. Temminckii, Leisler; ZT. minita, Leisler ; Numenius pygmeus, 
Latham ; the Tinga platyrhyncha, Temmincl , and Pygmy Curlew of our shores ; 
and the 7’. maritima, Brunnich, our Purple Sindpiper. ‘The latter has been met 
with by most of the late arctic expeditions, and breeds abundantly on Melville 
Island and the shores of Hudson’s Bay; and J. subarquata, Becasseau corcoli, 
Teas and we may add the 7’. ru/escens of Vieillot, lately vaken in this country. 
—En. 
* PENNANT 
