RED-BACKED SANDPIPER
243. Pelidna alpina sakhalina. 8 in.
Bill slightly decurved and rather stout. Adults in summer, with the upper parts largely bright rusty; 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. Found in large flocks on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, during migrations, but rarely in the interior. Their flight is very rapid and performed in very compact flocks that act as if governed by one impulse. They are very active, feeding for a short time in one place, then flying to another. They are found most abundantly on sand bars and mud flats, rather than on the open beach.
Nest.—Usually on dry, grassy knolls, a hollow in the earth being lined with a few dried grasses. Eggs pale greenish or brownish gray, spotted with blackish (1.40 × 1.00); June.
Range.—Breeds in the Arctic regions, and winters from the Gulf coast and southern California, southward.
