280 BRITISH BIRDS. 



AMERICAN PECTORAL SANDPIPERS IN SUSSEX. 



A Pectoral Sandpiper [Tringa maculata) was shot at Rye 

 Harbour on September 19th, 1906. It was an adult bird just 

 commencing to moult into winter plumage ; the long scapular 

 feathers were much abraded, and several of them had already 

 been replaced. Mr. M. J. Nicoll wrote me that he saw and 

 recognized two at this place amongst a flock of Dunlin, on 

 August 1st of that year, and the present specimen is probably 

 one of them. 



N. F. TiCEHURST. 



On September 21st last I was on the Crumbles, near Eastbourne, 

 in company with Mr. L. E. Dennys, when a bird rose from 

 some shingle and uttered a low note. I called to Mr. Dennys 

 to shoot, and he secured what jDroved to be a specimen of the 

 American Pectoral Sandpiper {Tringa maculata). 



The legs were greenish-yellow, and there was a little of the 

 same colour at the base of the lower mandible. 



The bird was exhibited on my behalf by Mr. H. F. Witherby 

 at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club held on 

 November 20th last. 



E. C. Arnold. 



THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE PECTORAL 

 SANDPIPER. 



In an interesting article in the " Ibis " for October, com- 

 municated by Mr. H. E. Dresser, Mr. S. A. Buturlin thus 

 describes the spring display of Tringa maculata : — " One would 

 every now and then stretch both wings right over its back, 

 and afterwards commence a grotesque sort of dance, hopping 

 alternately on each leg ; another would inflate its gular 

 pouch and run about, crouching down to the ground, or would 

 fly up to about a hundred feet in the air, then inflate its pouch 

 and descend slowly and obliquely to the ground on extended 

 wings. All these performances were accompanied by a strange 

 hollow sound, not very loud when near, but audible at some 

 distance, even as far as five hundred yards. These notes are 

 very difficult to locate, and vary according to the distance. 

 When near they are tremulous, booming sounds, something 

 like the notes of a frog, and ending in clear sounds like those 

 caused by the bursting of water-bubbles in a copper vessel." 

 Mr. Buturlin found Tringa maculata breeding to the east 

 of the Kolyma delta. We beheve that it has not before been 

 authenticated as breeding on the Asiatic side of the Behring 

 Straits. It is also of interest to note that the author found 



