BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 153 



CROCETHIA ALBA (Pallas) 



Tnjnga alba Pallas, in Vroeg, Cat. Rais., 1764, Adumbr., p. 7. (Coast of 

 North Sea.) 



An adult female of the sanderling was taken November 6, 1920, 

 on the exposed outer beach 24 kilometers south of Cape San Antonio, 

 Buenos Aires, one of the feAv birds that cared to brave the severe 

 gale then in progi-ess. On the following day 20 in three flocks 

 passed in southward migration, flying about a meter above the >and 

 near the line marked by the wash of the waves. The species was 

 not recorded again until April 29, 1921, when 25 were seen near 

 Concon, Chile, in flight northward along the coast. 



PISOBIA MELANOTOS (Vieillot) 



Tringa melanotos Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 34, 1819, p. 462. 

 (Paraguay.) 



Azara, with his usual meticulous care, described his chorlito lonio 

 pardo — the basis of Vieillot's THnga melanotos — so minutel}- that 

 there is no mistaking it for one of the two larger Pisohia, while his 

 note to the effect that the tarsus was greenish points unmistakably to 

 the pectoral sandpiper, since, as is well known to observant field 

 naturalists, Baird's sandpiper, the only other species that may here 

 be confused, has the tarsus black. The dimensions given by Azara 

 are also those of the pectoral sandpiper. Sadly enough, Tringa 

 melanotos on page 462 of Vieillot's work has priority over Tringa 

 maculata on page 465 and so must supplant it. 



The pectoral sandpiper was recorded as fairly common. At Ki- 

 lometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, the species arrived 

 on September 9, 1920, and passed in small numbers until the close 

 of the month. On September 24 and 25, thirty or more were seen 

 on muddy areas at the Laguna Wall at Kilometer 200. In crossing 

 from Conessa to Lavalle, Buenos Aires, October 22, two flocks, con- 

 taining in the aggregate 20 individuals, were seen near pools on the 

 grass-grown pampa. Four were noted at the mouth of the Rio Ajo 

 October 25. At Carhue, Buenos Aires, one was found in company 

 with lesser yellowlegs December 15. On January 15 I observed four 

 or five captive in the zoological gardens in Montevideo, Uruguay, 

 and was informed that they had been captured that season. Near 

 Lazcano, Uruguay, two were seen at a small lagoon, and on the fol- 

 lowing morning I found a flock of 16 resting on mud lumps in a pool 

 in a road. These latter were evidently tired, as all rested quietly 

 in the sun, several crouched on their breasts. When flushed the flock 

 flew on to the westward instead of following down the Rio Cebollati, 

 as was the custom of other migrating shore birds noted here. At 

 Guamini, Buenos Aires, a pectoral sandpiper was noted on March 4 



