Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0057/00572.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 9KB | 159 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00572}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Red-Backed Sandpiper}
$Subject{Scolopacinae; Tringa; Calidris; alpina; Red-backed Sandpiper; Dunlin}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume V}
$Volume{Vol. 5:266-269}
$Family{Scolopacinae}
$Genus{Tringa; Calidris}
$Species{alpina}
$Common_Name{Red-backed Sandpiper; Dunlin}
$Log{
Plate CCCXXXII*00572P1.scf
Family*00565.txt
Genus*00566.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL.  V.
                        --------------------------------


                           THE RED-BACKED SANDPIPER.
                                   [Dunlin.]


                              TRINGA ALPINA, Linn.
                               [Calidris alpina.]


             PLATE CCCXXXII.--MALE IN SUMMER, AND ADULT IN WINTER.


     In autumn and winter, this species is abundant along the whole range of our
coast, wherever the shores are sandy or muddy, from Maine to the mouths of the
Mississippi; but I never found one far inland.  Sometimes they collect into
flocks of several hundred individuals, and are seen wheeling over the water near
the shores or over the beaches, in beautiful order, and now and then so close
together as to afford an excellent shot, especially when they suddenly alight in
a mass near the sportsman, or when, swiftly veering, they expose their lower
parts at the same moment.  On such occasions a dozen or more may be killed at
once, provided the proper moment is chosen.
     There seems to be a kind of impatience in this bird that prevents it from
remaining any length of time in the same place, and you may see it scarcely
alighted on a sand-bar, fly off without any apparent reason to another, where it
settles, runs for a few moments, and again starts off on wing.  When searching
for food they run with great agility, following the retiring waves, and
retreating as they advance, probing the wet sands, and picking up objects from
their surface, ever jerking up the tail, and now and then uttering a faint cry,
pleasant to the ear, and differing from the kind of scream which they emit while
on wing.
     When I was in the Floridas in winter, I found this species abundant, and my
party shot a great number of them, on account of the fatness and juiciness of
their flesh.  They all appeared to have their plumage greyer than those shot in
the Carolinas at the same season, and not one exhibited the least redness on the
back, although that colour is so conspicuous in spring before they leave us for
the north.  They usually take their departure from the south about the first of
April, reach the Middle Districts by the fifteenth of that month, and in a few
days assume their summer plumage.  I have observed that at this season the male
birds are frequently in the habit of raising their wings and running in that
position for a few steps, when they close them, and nod to the nearest female.
None of the other sex, however, seemed to take the least notice of this homage.
On our way to Labrador we saw flocks of these birds passing, but we found none
breeding in that country.  My friend Mr. MACGILLIVRAY has given me the following
account of the habits of this species during the breeding season.
     "About the middle of April, the Purres betake themselves to the moors, in
the northern parts of Scotland, and in the larger Hebrides, where they may be
found scattered in the haunts selected by the Golden Plovers, with which they
are so frequently seen in company that they have obtained the name of Plovers'
Pages.  In the Hebrides, from this season until the end of August, none are to
be found along the shores.  The nest is a slight hollow in a dry place, having a
few bits of withered heath and grass irregularly placed in it.  The eggs, four
in number, are ovato-pyriform, an inch and four-twelfths in length,
eleven-twelfths in breadth, oil-green or light greenish-yellow, irregularly
spotted and blotched with deep brown, the spots becoming more numerous toward
the larger end, where they are confluent.  The young, like those of the Golden
Plover and Lapwing, leave the nest immediately after exclusion, run about, and
when alarmed, conceal themselves by sitting close to the ground and remaining
motionless.  If at this period, or during incubation, a person approaches their
retreats, the male especially, but frequently the female also, flies up to meet
the intruder, settles on a tuft near him, or runs along and uses the same
artifices for decoying him from the nest or young as the Plover or Ring
Dotterel.  When the young are fledged, the birds gather into small flocks, which
often in the evenings unite into larger, and join those of the Golden Plover.
They rest at night on the smoother parts of the heath, and both species, when
resting by day, either stand or lie on the ground.  When one advances within a
hundred yards of such a flock, it is pleasant to see them stretch up their wings
as if preparing for flight, utter a few low notes, and immediately stand on the
alert, or run a few steps.  At this season, however, they are not at all shy.
Towards the end of August, the different colonies betake themselves to the sandy
shores.  On a large sand-ford in Harris, I have at this season seen many
thousands at once, running about with extreme activity in search of food.  This
place seemed a general rendezvous, and after a few weeks the host broke up and
dispersed, few if any remaining during the winter."


     TRINGA CINCLUS and ALPINA, Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 251, 429.
     RED-BACKED SANDPIPER, Tringa alpina, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 5.
     TRINGA ALPINA, Bonap. Syn., p. 317.
     TRINGA ALPINA, American Dunlin, Swains. and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii.
       p. 383.
     DUNLIN or OX-BIRD, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 106.
     RED-BACKED SANDPIPER, Tringa alpina, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 580.


     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.
     Adult Male in summer.
     Bill longer than the head, slender, sub-cylindrical, nearly straight, being
slightly curved towards the end, compressed at the base, the point rather
depressed and obtuse.  Upper mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight,
slightly sloping at the base, and slightly decurved towards the end, the ridge
narrow, towards the end flattened, at the point convex, sides sloping, edges
rather blunt and soft.  Nasal groove long, extending to near the point; nostrils
basal, linear, pervious.  Lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow,
the dorsal line slightly concave, the sides sloping outwards, towards the end
convex.
     Head rather small, oblong, compressed.  Eyes rather small.  Neck of
moderate length.  Body rather full.  Feet slender, of moderate length; tibia
bare a considerable way up, anteriorly and posteriorly scutellate, as is the
compressed tarsus; hind toe very small and elevated, anterior toes of moderate
length, slender; inner toe slightly shorter than outer, middle toe considerably
longer, all scutellate above, marginate with prominent papillae, and free.
Claws small, slightly arched, extremely compressed, blunt; edge of middle claw
dilated and thin.
     Plumage very soft, blended; on the back the feathers rather distinct.
Wings long and pointed; primaries tapering, obtuse, the first longest, the
second a little shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; secondaries rather short,
obliquely cut at the end with a recurved blunt point, the inner elongated and
tapering.  Tail rather short, even, but with the two middle feathers
considerably longer, of twelve feathers.
     Bill and feet black.  Iris dark brown.  The upper part of the head, the
back and the scapulars, are chestnut-red, each feather brownish-black in the
centre, and the sc