178 BULLETIISr 15 3, ITNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The bird collected on March 30 on the Gato River is in fresh sum- 

 mer plumage. Van Someren ^^ writes that in Kenya Colony the as- 

 sumption of the breeding plumage is not limited to any given period, 

 some May specimens having not yet started to molt while others are 

 in breeding plumage. This is corroborated by a long series of African 

 examples of this sandpiper in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 

 The earliest date for full breeding plumage in the series is March 12 

 (Rhino camp, West Nile, Uganda), while one bird from the Blue 

 Nile, Sudan, collected on January 24 was molting slightly when 

 collected. 



Not a few individuals seem to stay over the summer in Africa, 

 although they do not breed there. Van Someren ^^ writes that he is 

 convinced that in the case of most migratory shore birds the late 

 molting birds are the young of the previous summer, and many of 

 these remain for a year in their winter homes. His records are 

 corroborated by the bird Mearns collected early in July at the south 

 end of Lake Rudolf. In the series before me is a July bird from 

 Lumbo, Mozambique, a specimen that could hardly have gotten so 

 far south at such an early date if it had been in the palearctic breed- 

 ing grounds that summer. Likewise Grote ^^ records the species all 

 the year round in southeastern Tanganyika Territory. 



The species has been found in practically all parts of Ethiopia 

 and northeastern Africa generally. However the two main migra- 

 tion routes in that part of the continent seem to be the valley of the 

 Nile and its tributaries, and along the Red Sea and the east coast. 

 (This is based on the abundance of records in these two areas com- 

 pared with the relative scarcity in the country in between them.) 

 Tliis does not mean that the species is actually uncommon in the 

 interior of Ethiopia, as Mearns observed it in the following locali- 

 ties: From Djibouti on the Red Sea to Aclis Abeba, the bird was seen 

 on nearly every stream; Aletta, March 7-13, 1 bird; Loco, March 

 13-15, 2; Gidabo River, March 15-17, 2 seen; Abaya Lakes, March 

 18-26, 45; near Gardula, March 26-29. 4 seen; Gato River March 29 

 to May 17, 20 birds; Lake Rudolf and country adjacent to the south- 

 east, July 5-10, 12 noted ; Tana River, August 23-26, 110 birds ; west 

 of Ithanga Hills, August 28, 2; Athi River, August 31, 10 seen. 



TRINGA OCHKOPUS Linnaeus 



^ringa ocrophus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 149, 1758: Europe; 

 restricted type locality, Sweden. 



Speciinens collected : 



Two females, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, December 30, 1911. 



Two unsexed, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, January 1, 1912. 



" Nov. Zool.. vol. 29, 1922, p. 19. 

 "Journ. f. Ornith., 1912, p. 509. 



