FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 417 



Females, wing 117-127 (123), tail 47.5-54.5 (52.8), exposed cul- 

 men 24-28 (26), tarsus 23-26 (24.7) mm. 



Migrant from the north. Fairly common; recorded from August 

 to March. 



This species, not included in Griscom's list of 1935, was first re- 

 corded by Arbib and Loetscher (Auk, 1935, p. 326) from one seen 

 near Gatun, Canal Zone, on August 7, 1933, and another on August 

 8, 1934. Imhof (Auk, 1950, p. 256) observed single birds at Fort 

 Amador on September 16 and at Palo Seco on November 8, in the 

 Canal Zone, and a flock of 5 at the mouth of the Rio Chico, Panama, 

 November 17 and 18, all in 1942. In my own work I collected a male 

 from 4 seen at Monagre, on the coast of Los Santos, on March 16, 

 1948, and saw several at La Plonda in the same province on March 20. 

 On February 12, 1961, I recorded four on Venado Beach, Canal 

 Zone. They are found rather regularly in August and September from 

 the Canal Zone west to Los Santos. 



In 1956, I saw several on Isla Coiba between January 20 and Feb- 

 ruary 3 and collected two on the latter date. In the Pearl Islands in 

 1960 I shot one January 17 on Isla Contadora, and saw half a dozen 

 on January 27 at the mouth of the Rio Cacique on Isla del Rey. My 

 only record for the Caribbean side is of two seen on February 6, 1957, 

 on a sandy beach at the mouth of the Rio Mandinga, San Bias. Eisen- 

 mann has informed me of one at Fort San Lorenzo, C.Z., May 13, 

 1962. 



Sanderlings are birds of the beaches, where their common habit is 

 to follow the receding waves to probe in the shifting surface sand 

 for small Crustacea, and then to patter quickly back as the water re- 

 turns. They nest in the tundras around the entire polar area and in 

 migration move south along the seas of the world. In the Americas 

 their flights take them to southern Chile and southern Argentina. 



EREUNETES PUSILLUS (Linnaeus) : Semipalmated Sandpiper; 

 Playerito Gracioso 



Tringa pusilla Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 252. (Hispaniola, 

 West Indies.) 



One of the 3 smallest sandpipers that come to Panama. This spe- 

 cies and the western sandpiper have heavier bills and black legs ; the 

 bird of the present account differs from its near relative in shorter 

 bill. 



Description. — Length, 140 to 155 mm. Anterior toes with webs. 

 Breeding dress, above brownish gray, with slight edgings of pale 



