The Red-backed Sandpiper 

 No. 241 



Red-backed Sandpiper 



A. O. U. No. 243 a. Pelidna alpina sakhalina (Vieillot). 



Synonyms. — American Dunlin. Ox-bird. 



Description. — Adult in winter: Above, nearly uniform light brownish gray, 

 the feathers slightly darker centrally, or with dusky mesial streaks; primary coverts 

 and wing-quills blackish; the greater coverts white-tipped; the inner primaries narrowly 

 white-edged; the secondaries increasingly white on the inner web; the tertials almost 

 entirely white; upper tail-coverts like back or darker, but the lateral feathers white 

 or white-edged; an impure whitish superciliary line; lower eyelid white; sides of head 

 and neck and across fore-neck and breast like color of back, but lighter; the color 

 distributed centrally from the feathers, giving a faintly streaked appearance; remaining 

 underparts white, or with a few gray streaks on sides. Bill longer, stouter, slightly 

 decurved near tip, black; feet and legs black. Adult in summer: Upperparts black 

 centrally with broad margining of bright rusty ochraceous; wings as before; breast, 

 etc., grayish white, sharply streaked with dusky; belly black, strongly contrasting 

 with breast; crissum, etc., white. Length 193-222.3 (7.60-8.75); wing 1 19.4 (4.70); 

 tail 58.2 (2.29); bill 38.1 (1.50); tarsus 27.8 (1.09). 



Recognition Marks. — Towhee size (considerably under Killdeer size); bright 

 rufous of back and black of belly of breeding plumage distinctive; soft brownish gray 

 of upperparts and breast; rather long black bill, slightly curved near tip, distinctive 

 for plumage commonly seen. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: A mere "scrape" on the 

 ground, lined or not with leaves and grasses. Eggs: 4; pointed ovate, olive-buff to 

 deep olive-buff, or water-green, boldly, heavily, and often broadly marked (sometimes 

 in spiral or "twisted" fashion) with reddish brown (Prout's brown, deep mummy- 

 brown or bister), with snuff-brown under-shell markings. Av. size 34.5 x 24.6 (1.36 x 

 .97); index 71. Season: June; one brood. 



Range of Pelidna alpina. — Breeds in the northern portions of the Northern 

 Hemisphere; winters south to the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Gulf of 

 Mexico, and Lower California. 



Range of P. a. sakhalina. — North America and eastern Asia. Breeds on the 

 northern coast of Siberia west to the Yenisei; in Alaska from the mouth of the Yukon 

 and in northern British America. Winters sparingly on the Pacific Coast of the L T nited 

 States, more commonly in Lower California, and on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from 

 New Jersey to Texas, and in Asia from Japan south to the Malay Archipelago. Also 

 occurs sparingly in the interior of the United States. 



Distribution in California. — Fairly common migrant along the coast and 

 casually inland. Winters sparingly from San Francisco southward, and has been 

 found both in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. 



Authorities. — Cassin (Tringa alpina, var. americana), in Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. 

 Surv., vol. ix., 1858, p. 719 (Petaluma); Nelson, Rep. Nat. Hist. Coll. Alaska, 1887, 

 p. no (breeding habits, nest, eggs, etc.). 



SAVE during the spring migrations, when the black of the belly is 

 a conspicuous sign, it is not easy to distinguish this bird from the more 



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