RED-BACKED SANDPIPER.
243a. Pelidna alpina sakhalina. 8 inches.
Bill slightly decurved and rather stout. Adults in summer, with the upper parts largely bright chestnut, spotted with black; belly black; head, throat, breast and sides strongly streaked with black.
In winter, dull brownish-gray above and white below, with the breast washed with grayish and slightly streaked with dusky. These small birds are found in large flocks both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, during migrations, but rarely in the interior. Their flight is very rapid and performed in compact flocks, that act as if governed by one impulse.
Nest.—Usually built on dry grassy knolls, a hollow in the earth being lined with a few dried grasses; they lay three or four eggs with a greenish or brownish buff color, heavily spotted and blotched with shades of brown and chestnut (1.40 × 1.00).