Plate CCXC. Adult in summer and winter.
Bill one-third longer than the head, slender, slightly curved toward
the end, and with the feet black. Upper part of the head, back, and
scapulars, chestnut-red, each feather brownish-black in the centre,
and the scapulars barred with the same colour; wing-coverts
greyish-brown, as are the quills; the bases and tips of the
secondaries, and part of the outer webs of the middle primaries white;
tail light brownish-grey, the two middle feathers darker; forehead,
sides of head, and hind neck, pale reddish-grey, streaked with dusky;
fore neck and anterior part of breast greyish-white, streaked with
dusky; on the breast a large patch of brownish-black; abdomen and
lower tail-coverts white, the latter with dusky markings. In winter,
the general colour of the upper parts brownish-grey; the wings and
tail as in summer; throat greyish-white; sides of head and neck, and
fore part of the latter, pale brownish-grey, faintly streaked with
darker, as are the sides; the rest of the lower parts white, with a
few streaks on the breast.
_Male_, 8-1/2, 15.
From Nova Scotia to Texas, along all muddy or sandy shores, during
autumn and spring. Common. Breeds in great numbers on the Arctic
coasts.
Tringa Cinclus and alpina, Linn. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 251, 429.
Red-backed Sandpiper, Tringa alpina, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vii.
p. 5.
Tringa alpina, Bonap. Syn. p. 317.
Tringa alpina, American Dunlin, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 383.
Dunlin or Ox-bird, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 106.
Red-backed Sandpiper, Tringa alpina, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii.
p. 580.