47 
RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 
TRLXGJl RUFA. 
[Plate LVII.— Fig. 5.] 
Tringa Islandica? Lath. Tnd. Om. p> 737, No. 39. — Red Sandpiper? Penn.^/pc?. ZooLNo* 
392. — Man. d'Orn. p. 629. — Peale’s Museum^ Ab. 4050. 
OF this prettily marked species I can find no satisfactory de- 
scription. The Tringa Icelandica, or Aberdeen Sandpiper, of Pen- 
nant and others, is the only species that has any resemblance to 
it ; the descriptions of that bird, however, will not altogether ap- 
ply to the present. 
The common name of this species on our seacoast is the 
Gray-back, and among the gunners it is a particular favorite, being 
generally a plump, tender and excellent bird for the table ; and, 
consequently, brings a good price in market. 
The Gray-backs do not breed on the shores of the middle 
states. Their first appearance is early in May. They remain a 
few weeks, and again disappear until October. They usually keep 
in small flocks, alight in a close body together on the sand-flats, 
where they search for the small bivalve shells already described. 
On the approach of the sportsman they frequently stand fixed and 
silent for some time; do not appear to be easily alarmed, neither 
do they run about in the water as much as some others, or with 
the same rapidity, but appear more tranquil and deliberate. In 
the month of November they retire to the south. 
Tliis species is ten inches long, and twenty in extent ; the 
bill is black, and about an inch and a half long ; the chin, eye- 
brows and whole breast is a pale brownish orange color ; crown, 
hind-head from the upper mandible backwards, and neck, dull 
