RED-BACKED SANDFIPER. 475 
RED-BACKED SANDPIPER.—TRINGA ALPINA. — Fie. 220. 
Aret. Zool. p. 416, No. 391.— Bewick, ii. p.113, —La Brunette, Buff. vii. 493. — 
Peale’s Museum, No. +094. 
TRINGA ALPINA. — Prnnant.* 
Dunlin, Mont. Orn. Dict. —The Dunlin, Bewick’s Brit. Birds, ii. p. 113. — Purre, 
Id. ii. p. 115. — Béeasseau brunette ou variable, Z’emm. ii.612. — Tringa alpina, 
Flem. Br. Zool. ie; 108.— Bonap. Synop. p. 25. — Tringa alpina, The American 
Dunlin, North. Zool. ii. p. 383. 
Turis bird inhabits both the old and new continents, being known in 
England by the name of the Dunlin, and in the United States, along 
the shores of New Jersey, by that of the Red-Back. Its residence 
* This alge is again represented (Fig. 225) in the plumage of the winter, and 
the decided change undergone, at the different ages and seasons, has caused great 
multiplication and confusion among the synonymes. Wilson’s two figures show 
very well the distinctions between the nuptial dress and that of winter; and, in the 
bird of the first year, the plumage assumes a ruddy tinge on the upper parts, but 
wants the greater part of the black, so conspicuous during the love season. 
On the coasts of Great Britain, the Purre is the most common of the whole race, 
and may generally be met with, no matter what is the character of the shore. Be- 
fore they have been much driven about and annoyed, they are also one of the most 
familiar. During winter, the flocks are sometimes immense, and will allow a per- 
son to approach very near, looking, and running a few_steps, or stretching their 
wings in preparation for flight, listlessly, and indicative of little alarm ; a few shots, 
however, render them as timorous and wary as they were before careless. In 
spring, they separate into pairs, when some perform a migration to a considerable 
extent northward, while others retire to the nearer marshes and sea merses, a few 
to the shores of inland lakes, and still fewer to the higher inland muirs. Havirg 
there performed the duties of incubation, they return again in autumn to the shore 
where they may be found in small partics, the amount of the broods, and whick 
gradually congregate as the season advances, and more distant travellers arrive, 
until many hundreds are thus joined. ‘Their nests are formed beneath or at the 
side of any small bush or tuft of grass, rather neatly scraped, and with a few straws 
of grass round the sides. The male is generally in attendance, perched on some 
near elevation, and, on any danger appreaching, runs round, uttering, at quick in- 
tervals, his shrill, monotonous whistle. ‘The female, when raised from the nest, 
flutters off fora few yards, and then assumes the same manners with the male. 
The young sit and squat among the grass or reeds, and, at that time, the parents 
will come within two yards of the person in search of them. The Purre seems ex- 
tensively distributed over both the European and American continents. I have 
not, however, received it from the Asiatic side, or any part of India, where so 
many of this tribe are commonly found. 
The genus Pelinda has been instituted and adopted, by several naturalists, for 
the Purre, the Little Sandpiper, and a few others, with the exclusion of the Pygmy 
Curlew and Knots. Though an advocate, generally, for subdivisions, wherever 
any character can be seized upon, I cannot reconcile that of these birds. I can fix 
upon no character which is not equally applicable ; and the habits, the changes ot 
plumage, and the form, are so similar, that, with the exception of modifications es- 
sential to every group, they compose one whole. The differences in form will be 
noticed under the respective species ; and, for the present, I prefer retaining these 
birds under the generic name of Tringa. s 
The following species, not noticed by Wilson, have been added to the American 
list by different ‘ornithologists : — ‘ 
T. Schinzii, Breh. On the authority of Bonaparte, identical with the Pelinda 
cinclus, var. of Say’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and met with by the 
