64 
TRINGA ALPINA. 
the hill is black, an inch long’, and very slightly bent ,* 
crown and body above, dusky brown, the plumage edged 
with ferruginous and tipt with white ; tail and wings, 
nearly of a length ; sides of the rump, white ; rump and 
tail-coverts, black ; wing-quills, dusky black, shafted, 
and banded with white, much in the manner of the 
least snipe ; over the eye a line of white ; lesser coverts 
tipt with white ; legs and feet, blackish ash, the latter 
half webbed. Males and females alike in colour. 
These birds varied greatly in their size, some being 
scarcely five inches and a half in length, and the bill 
not more than three quarters ; others measured nearly 
seven inches in the whole length, and the bill upwards 
of an inch. In their general appearance they greatly 
resemble the stints or least snipe ; but unless we allow 
that the same species may sometimes have the toes 
half webbed, and sometimes divided to the origin, — and 
this not in one or two solitary instances, but in whole 
flocks, which would be extraordinary indeed, — we 
cannot avoid classing this as a new and distinct species. 
SUBGENUS II. TRINGA. 
218 . TRINGA ALPINA , LINNAEUS. — TRINGA ALPINA , WILSON. 
RED-BACKED SANDPIPER. 
WILSON, PLATE LVI. FIG. II. EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
This bird inhabits both the old and new continents, 
being known in England by the name of the dunlin, and 
in the United States, along the shores of New Jersey, by 
that of the red-back. Its residence here is but transient, 
chiefly in April and May, wdiile passing to the arctic 
regions to breed, and in September and October, when 
on its return southward to winter quarters. During 
their stay, they seldom collect in separate flocks by 
themselves, but mix with various other species of strand 
birds, among w hom they are rendered conspicuous by 
the red colour of the upper part of their plumage. 
They frequent the muddy flats and shores of the salt 
