242 
PR^ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLiE. 
/3- Americana. THE AMERICAN RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 
Tringa alpina, Wils. Am. Orn. VII. 1813, 25, pi. 56, fig. 2 (nee Linn.) — Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 
1831, 383. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 106. — Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 580, pi. 290; Synop. 
1839, 234 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 266. 
Tringa alpina, var. americana, Cass, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 719.- — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 
1859, no. 530. — Coues, Key, 1872, 256 ; Check List, 1873, 424 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 489. 
Tringa variabilis, Sabine, Suppl. Parry’s First Voy. p. cc. 
“ Tringa cinclus," Wils. Am. Orn. VII. 1813, 39, pi. 57, fig. 3 (nec Linn.). 
Pelidna pacifica, Coues, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sei. Philad. 1861, 189 (in text). 
Pelidna alpina americana, Ridow. Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mils. 1881, 200 ; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 
539a. — Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 624. 
Hab. OI true alpina, the Palaearctic Region, accidental in North America (Hudson’s Bay : 
Blakiston, “ Ibis,” 1863, 132). Of americana, North America in general, breeding far northward, 
and straggling to eastern coast of Asia. 
Sp. Char. (P. americana). Adult in summer : Crown, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail- 
coverts, light rufous, the crown streaked, other parts spotted, with black ; wing-coverts brownish 
gray, the greater broadly tipped with white. Head (except crown), neck, jugulum, and breast, 
grayish white, streaked with dusky ; abdomen black ; sides, flanks, anal region, crissum, and lining 
of the wing, pure white, the sides, flanks, and crissum sparsely streaked. Adult and young in win- 
ter : Above, entirely plain ash-gray, sometimes with very indistinct dusky shaft-streaks ; indistinct 
superciliary stripe and lower parts white, the neck and jugulum indistinctly streaked with grayish, 
the sides, flanks, and crissum sometimes sparsely streaked. Young : Back and scapulars black, the 
feathers broadly bordered with rusty ochraceous, this becoming paler, or even white, on the ends 
of some of the feathers ; lesser and middle wing-coverts bordered with buff ; rump plain brownish 
slate ; upper tail-coverts darker, tipped with rusty ; crown light rusty, streaked with black. Head 
and neck (except crown and throat) dull dingy buff, indistinctly streaked with dusky ; remaining 
lower parts, including throat, white, the breast and belly with numerous irregularly cordate spots 
of black, the flanks, crissum, and lining of the wing immaculate. “ Bill and feet black ; iris dark 
brown” (Audubon). 
Total length, about 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.60-4.95 ; culmen, 1.40-1.75; tarsus, 1.00-1.15 ; mid- 
dle toe, .70-.80. 
There is a considerable amount of individual variation in this species, especially noticeable in 
the extent and continuity of the black abdominal area, the distinctness of the black markings 
above, and the depth of the rufous tint ; not infrequently the latter is mixed witli grayish. In 
the winter plumage, some examples have the sides and crissum narrowly streaked, while in others 
these parts are immaculate. 
American specimens differ constantly, though slightly, from European ones in their larger size 
and, in the summer plumage, lighter colors. In three adults of the European bird in summer plu- 
mage, the black largely predominates on the dorsal surface, while the ochraceous is much less rusty 
than in American examples ; the breast is also much more heavily streaked. In the winter plu- 
