422 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



Passage migrant from the north. Rare ; status uncertain. 



The only definite record is that of a specimen in the British Museum 

 (Natural History), received in the Salvin and Godman collection, 

 collected by James McLeannan, and labeled Lion Hill (see Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 24, 1896, p. 391). Eisenmann (Wilson 

 Bull., 1951, p. 183) quotes Thomas Imhof for a report of 3 seen 

 on June 15, 1942. Loftin (Carib. Journ. Sci. 1963, p. 66) recorded 

 one September 23 and two October 13, 1962 at Panama Viejo. 



The white-rumped sandpiper nests in the tundra regions of the 

 north from northern Alaska to Baffin Island, and winters in southern 

 South America from Paraguay and Brazil to Tierra del Fuego. The 

 Isthmus of Panama seems to lie to the west of its usual line of 

 migratory flight. 



Many individuals may be told from Baird's sandpipers with 

 difficulty, so that sight records, unless supported by specimens, may 

 be open to question. 



EROLIA BAIRDII (Coues): Baird's Sandpiper; Playerito Unicolor 



Actodromas Bairdii Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 13, June-Aug. 

 (Dec. 28) 1861, p. 194. (Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, MacKenzie 

 District, Northwest Territories.) 



Similar to the white-rumped sandpiper, but with all the central 

 upper tail coverts black, so that this area appears dark in flight. 



Description. — Length, 170 to 185 mm. Bill more slender than in 

 E. fuscicollis, tip not broadened, with surface smooth. Breeding dress, 

 crown, back, and scapulars with the feathers extensively black cen- 

 trally, bordered by pale buff, buffy white, and, to a lesser degree, cin- 

 namon-buff; wing coverts light grayish brown, edged with grayish 

 white ; lesser coverts tipped narrowly with white ; primaries dusky ; 

 secondaries brownish gray, edged with white ; rump and central upper 

 tail coverts dusky ; outer ones white, marked with grayish brown near 

 tip; central rectrices dusky; lateral pairs dark gray, margined nar- 

 rowly with white ; foreneck and upper breast grayish white, streaked 

 and spotted heavily with dusky. 



Winter dress, dorsal surface, in general, like the summer plumage, 

 but back, rump, scapulars, and lesser and middle wing coverts tipped 

 prominently with white to buffy white ; greater coverts edged with buff 

 and tipped rather widely with white to form a distinct band ; crown 

 and hindneck edged with buff ; upper breast feathers with dusky cen- 

 tral mottling, washed with light buff' ; rest of under surface white. 



Iris brown ; bill, tarsus, and toes black. 



