RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 
335 
mandible, an inch and a quarter in length, and of a black 
colour ; the head and globe of the eye are both remarkably 
large, the latter deep bluish black ; forehead, white ; crown 
and hindhead, black, spotted with golden yellow; back and 
scapulars, dusky, sprinkled with the same golden or orange 
coloured spots, mixed with others of white ; breast, belly, and 
vent, black ; sides of the breast, whitish ; wing-quills, black ; 
middle of the shafts, white ; greater coverts, black, tipt with 
white ; lining of the wing, black ; tail, regularly barred with 
blackish and pure white ; tail-coverts, pure white ; legs and 
feet, a dusky lead colour ; the exterior toe joined to the middle 
by a broad membrane ; hind toe, very small. 
From the length of time which these birds take to acquire 
their full colours, they are found in very various stages of 
plumage. The breast and belly are at first white, gradually 
appear mottled with black, and finally become totally black. 
The spots of orange, or golden, on the crown, hindhead, and 
back, are at first white, and sometimes even the breast itself 
is marked with these spots, mingled among the black. In 
every stage, the seemingly disproportionate size of the head, 
and thickness of the bill, will distinguish this species. 
RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER TRINGA RUFA. 
Plate LVIL Fig. 5. 
Peale's Museum , No. 4050. 
TRINGA CANUTUS.— Linn^us. 
Tringa Islandica, Linn, and Lath . — Red Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Diet. Supp . — 
Aberdeen Sandpiper, Penn. Brit. Zool. ii. No. 203. 
Of this prettily marked species I can find no description. 
The Tringa Icelandica , or Aberdeen Sandpiper of Pennant 
and others, is the only species that has any resemblance to it ; 
the descriptions of that bird, however, will not apply to the 
present. 
