SC0L0PACID2E : SANDPIPERS. 
631 
Below, silvery-white ; above, rich reddish-brown, varied with white, with curious little round 
dots, like mildew. Each such spot is as large as a pin-head, and, under a lens, is seen to be 
the enlarged brushy end of a down-feather, whence several tiny bristles sprout. Each such 
plume is white at base, then black, then white-tufted as said ; the dotted areas thus correspond 
to the areas of black variegation, but there are, also, a black undotted frontal line, loral stripes, 
and some other markings. Only known from the Prybilov or Fur Seal Islands, where it breeds, 
and northward to St. Matthew and St. Lawrence Islands. Eggs 4, like those of J., maritima. 
PELID'NA. (Gr. ireXMs, pelidnos, gray?) Dunlin Sandpipers. Bill stout, much 
longer than head or tarsus, slightly dccurved, tip somewhat expanded and punctulate ; grooves 
in both mandibles deep and distinct. Wings moderate; tertials long and flowing. Tail 
moderate, doubly-emarginate, the central feathers projecting. Legs rather long; tarsus not 
shorter than middle toe and claw, if anything longer. Bare portion of tibia more than half 
the tarsus. Toes rather long, cleft to the base, narrowly margined. Contains a few species 
or varieties in summer reddish above, with a great black abdominal area. 
Analysis of Varieties. 
Smallest: length about 8.00; bill, average, 1.40; tarsus little if any longer than middle toe and claw; 
tarsus and middle toe together 1.75 aJpina 623 
Medium: length about 8.50; bill, average, 1.70; disproportionately longer, stouter, more decurved ; tarsus 
decidedly longer than middle toe and claw; tarsus and middle toe together 2.00 .... americana 624 
[Largest : bill and legs still longer than in the last. Pacific Coast, N. A ? jjocijica] 
P. alpi'na. (Lat. aljnna, alpine.) European Dunlin. Purre. Differing as above said from 
the N. A. species. Straggler to Greenland. 
P. a. america'na. (Fig. 439.) American Dunlin. Black-bellied Sandpiper. Red- 
backed Sandpiper. Ox-bird. Bill longer than head or tarsus, compressed at the base, rather 
depressed at the end, and usually appreciably 
decurved. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 15.00; 
wing 4.50-5.00^^ tail 2.00-2.33; bill 1.50- 
1.75 ; tibiae bare about 0.50 ; tarsus 1.00 or 
rather more ; middle toe and claw 1.00 or 
rather less. Adult in summer : Above, chest- 
nut-red, each feather with a central black 
field, and most of them tipped with whitish ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts blackish ; tail- 
r^^^.^^^„„ . 1 FjG. -iSd. — Bill am} foot of Pel'ulna alpina americana, 
feathers and wmg-coverts ashy-gray, the ^^t. size. (Ad nat. del. E. c.) 
greater coverts tipped with white ; quills 
dusky with pale shafts ; secondaries mostly white, and inner primaries edged with the same ; 
outer webs of primaries blackish, some of the inner ones white-edged toward the base; 
secondaries mostly white. Under parts white ; belly with a broad, jet-black area ; breast 
and jugulum thickly streaked with dusky. Bill and feet black. Adult in Avinter, and 
young : Above, plain ashy-gray, with dark shaft lines, with or without red or black traces. 
Below, white, with little or no trace of black on belly; jugulum with few dusky streaks and 
an ashy suffusion. White edgings of inner primaries very conspicuous. The summer dress is 
long worn ; it is assumed more or less perfectly in April, and many come from the north still 
wearing it. All of N. Am., breeding in high latitudes, migrating through and wintering in the 
U. S., preferably coastwise; common, in flocks on the beaches and elsewhere. 
ANCYLOCHI'LUS. (Gr. dyKvXoxfLkos, agJcuIocheilos, having a curved bill.) Curlew 
Sandpipers. Bill much longer than the head, slender, compressed, considerably decurved, 
the tip not expanded, and rather hard. Grooves in both mandibles very narrow but distinct. 
Wings long, pointed. Tail very short, nearly even. Legs long, slender; tarsus and tibia 
both lengthened, the latter exposed for nearly or quite haK the length of the former, which is 
