RED-ERE ASTED SANDPIPER. 487 
of the first year have considerable resemblance to those of the Golden 
Plover ; but may be easily distinguished from this last by the largeness 
of their head and bill, and in being at least two inches more in length. 
The greater number of those which I have examined have the rudi- 
ments of a hind toe; but the character and manners of the Plover are 
80 conspicuous in the bird, as to determine, at the first glance, the tribe 
it belongs to. They continue about the sea-coast until early in No- 
vember, when they move off to the south. 
This same bird, Mr. Pennant informs us, inhabits all the north of 
Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and Hudson's Bay, and all the arctic part 
of Siberia. It is said, that at Hudson’s Bay it is called the Hawk’s- 
Eye, on account of its brilliancy. It appears, says the same author, in 
Greenland, in the spring, about the southern lakes, and feeds on worms 
and berries of the heath. 
This species is twelve inches long, and twenty-four inches in ex- 
tent; the bill is thick, deeply grooved on the upper mandible, an inch 
and a quarter in length, and of a black color; the head and globe of 
the eye are both remarkably large, the latter deep bluish black; fore- 
head, white ; crown and hind head, black, spotted with golden yellow; 
back and scapulars, dusky, sprinkled with the same golden or orange 
colored spots, mixed with others of white; breast, belly, and vent, 
black ; sides of the breast, whitish ; wing-quills, black ; middle of the 
shafts, white; greater coverts, black, tipped with white ; lining of the 
wing, black; tail, regularly barred with blackish and pure white ; tail- 
coverts, pure white; legs and feet, a dusky lead color; the exterior 
toe joined to the middle by a broad membrane ; hind toe, very small. 
From the length of time which these birds take to acquire their full 
colors, they are found in very various stages of plumage. The breast 
and belly are at first white, gradually appear mottled with black, and 
finally become totally black. The spots of orange, or golden, on the 
crown, hind head, and back, are at first white, and sometimes even the 
breast itself is marked with these spots, mingled among the black. In 
every stage, the seemingly disproportionate size of the head, and 
thickness of the bill, will asdngtsh this species. 
Si 
‘RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER.—TRINGA RUFA. — Fic. 227. 
Peale’s Museum, No. 4050. ' 
TRINGA CANUTUS, — Liyneus. 
Tringa Islandica, Linn. and Lath.— Red Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Dict. Supp. — 
Aberdeen Sandpiper, Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. No. 203. 
Or this prettily marked species I can find no description. The 
Tringa Icelandica, or Aberdeen Sandpiper of Pennant and others, is 
the only species that has any resemblance to it; the descriptions of 
that bird, however, will not apply to the present. 
The common name of this species on our sca-coast is the Gray- 
Back, and among the gunners it is a particular favorite, being gener- 
