SANDPIPER. 289 



Red-backed Sandpiper, Amer. Orn. vii. p. 25. pi. 56. f. 2. 



Dunlin, Gen. Syn. v. 185. Id. Sup. 249. Br. Zool. ii. No. 205. Id.fol. 126. pi. E. 

 1. f.2. /</. 1812. ii. p. 92. Raii, 109. A. 12. Will. 226. Id. Engl. 30a. Arct. 

 Zool. ii. No. 391. Bewick, ii. pi. p. 117. Lewin, v. pi. 176. /</. xxxi. f. 2. — 

 the egg. jLin. Trans, viii. 266. Wale. ii. pi. 151. On». Diet. i§' Supp. 



SIZE of the Jack Snipe; length eight inches or more. Bill 

 black, rather swelling out at the end ; the upper parts of the 

 plumage ferruginous, marked with large spots of black and a little 

 white; wing coverts brownish ash-colour; throat, fore part of the 

 neck, and breast, white, streaked with dusky ; belly, thighs, and 

 vent, white ; the first more or less marked in the middle with black I 

 the two middle tail feathers are brown, marked with rufous ; the 

 others very pale brown ; legs black, toes divided to their origin. 



Inhabits the northern parts of England, met with on the York- 

 shire coast, and the shores of Flintshire, in May and August ; 

 common on the Islands of South Ronaldsha and Sanda, and at Loch 

 Strathbeg, near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire ; breeds with the Lap- 

 wing, and Ringed Plover, in Harris, one of the Hebrides; and 

 makes the nest of dried tufts of goose rush,* deposited in a slight 

 hole in the ground ; the eggs are four, smoaky white, irregularly 

 marked with light, and darker brown blotches, more distinct and 

 paler at the smaller end : the flesh is esteemed a great delicacy. 



It is also found in Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Alps of 

 Siberia, and in its migration on the coasts of the Caspian Sea. We have 

 also received it from Hudson's Bay, differing very little in external 

 appearance, insomuch as to make a separate description unnecessary. 



In the Amer. Orn. it is observed, that in September, many are 

 found destitute of the crescent on the belly, and that such are 

 probably young birds. Col. Montagu hints the probability of the 

 Purre, and Dunlin, being one and the same species, having the 

 appearance of the latter for nine months of a year, and with the 

 plumage of the Purre in the three dead winter months ; similar to 



* Juncus squarrosus.— Lin. Sp. p. 465. 



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