Shore Birds of Oape Cod. 
John C. Cahoon. 
Bed-backed Sandpiper, Trinpa alpina pacijica { 
(Coues.) Crooked-billed, or Fall Snipe on 
Cape Cod. A common spring and abundant 
autumn migrant. It usually arrives the last 
week in April, and by the 13th of May all have 
passed Cape Cod on their northern journey. 
In the autumn, the migrants for the south 
reach the Cape about Sept. 23, becoming abun- 
dant about Sept. 30, and remaining so through 
the greater part of October. A few remain 
late into November. In the spring they are in 
pairs or small flocks, and are quite shy, but in 
the autumn they are apparently without fear, 
and large numbers are shot by tyro gunners ' 
who are not successful with the larger and 
more wary birds. They feed on the sand flats, 
spits, and low beaches, in flocks by themselves, 
or in company with sanderlings and sand- 
pipers. Their food consists of sand fleas, 
marine animals, and shell fish. I have seen 
them at the fish works on Monomoy Island 
eagerly devouring flies and insects that were 
very numerous about the guano spread out on 
the sand. They go on to the high beach to 
stop during high tide. They stop with us in 
the autumn later than any of the other Limi- 
colce. 
O.&'O. XIII. Sept. 18S8 p. 129 
Late Record of the Red-backed Sandpiper (PelidZia alpina sakhalina) 
in Massachusetts. — On Dec. 27, 1911, I noted a small flock of Red- 
backed Sandpipers ( Pelidna alpina sakhalina) at Muskeget Island, Mass. 
On the 31st I came upon a flock of nine in a driving snowstorm, two 
of which I secured and found very fat. 
I last noted four of these birds on the 14th of January, 1912. Though 
the nine previous days had been very severe, covering almost all the shore 
with ice, these four birds seemed in good condition and they were busily 
engaged in finding an apparent abundance of food. 
The latest record that I can find for this species in Massachusetts, is 
December 24 (Howe & Allen, Birds of Mass., p. 42.) — Winthrop S. 
Brooks, Milton, Mass. #X /Xy< ./? / 
