384 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFOBNIA 



Alameda; County, April 30, 1914, by the authors; and Emerson (1904, 

 p. 38) recorded birds of this species at Hay ward, May 11, 1903. At 

 Los Bancs, Merced County, it was present in the spring of 1912 up to 

 April 26 (specimens in Mus. Vert. Zool.). It would seem as though 

 the migrants which are seen along the southern coast in the fall and 

 spring and in the interior at Los Baiios spend the winter but little 

 farther south, in the vicinity of San Diego (Belding, MS), at Salton 

 Sea, Imperial County (Dawson, 1916, p. 25), and on the coast of 

 Lower California (Brewster, 1902ffl, p. 63). On the Pacific coast the 

 species is not known to occur south of La Paz, Lower California, save 

 in the case of a single straggler taken in Nicaragua (Cooke, 1910, 

 p. 44). 



In the springtime the Red-backed Sandpiper is easy to distinguish, 

 with its reddish back and conspicuous black belly ; but in the fall less 



conspicuous features must be de- 

 pended upon : its long bill (fig. 71) 

 which is decidedly longer than its 

 head and curved slightly downward 

 9835 ^t t^6 terminal third, its moder- 

 ately small size (yet conspicuously 



, ^S- 71- ^ Side of bill of Red- larger than the Least, Western, and 

 backed Sandpiper. Natural size. -r.-i ,. x ,. ,., 



Baird sandpipers), and its plainly 



tiv^ly VTba^sr^' *'^ '"'^ "'" "larked brown back entirely free 



from any scaled or prominently 

 streaked appearance such as is possessed by so many species of shore 

 birds. The incessant bobbing up and down of the members of a flock 

 as they probe for food, and the resulting flashes of white and brown 

 as the breasts and- backs appear alternately, are additional aids to 

 recognition. 



The call-note is a rasping cheep, or chee-ezp-ezp-ezp-ezp, uttered 

 almost as a single syllable. It is much hoarser than that of the Least 

 Sandpiper, a species with which this one sometimes associates. 



The Red-backed Sandpiper is a typical beach bird, gleaning its 

 provender by probing along the beaches and adjacent mud flats. In 

 the East it is reported to be something of an upland bird, so that 

 hunters class it with the Snipe rather than with the Sandpipers ; but 

 such does not seem to be the rule in California. "When feeding the 

 birds probe industriously, but not very long in any one spot. The bill 

 is thrust perpendicularly into the mud; and often when they are 

 feeding on a flat which is partly under water the whole head may be 

 immersed for a second or two. Flocks spread out immediately upon 

 alighting and each individual pursues a separate course. This, com- 

 bined with their rapidity of action, results in the peculiar bobbing 

 appearance referred to above. 



