SCOLOPACID^.. 



567 





BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER. 

 Tringa fuscicollis, Vieillot. 



This is another American bird, which may always be distin- 

 guished from the DunUn by its shorter bill and ^cliifc niiitp. The 

 first British example on record was shot prior to 1839, 'f^ 

 Shropshire, while subsequently three others have been obtained in 

 Cornwall, two in the Scilly Islands, four at Instow in North Devon, 

 two in Sussex, and one at Kingsbury Reservoir in Middlesex. There 

 is also a specimen in the Museum at Belfast which is believed to 

 have been killed near that city. 



On the Continent of Europe this Sandpiper has not yet been 

 observed, for the T. schinzi of Brehm and some other ornithologists 

 is a small form of the Dunlin ; our bird is, however, the T. schinzi 

 of Bonaparte, and under the name of Schinz's Sandpiper was 

 figured and described in the ist, 2nd and 3rd Editions of ' Yarrell.' 

 It is said to have occurred at Reykjavik, Iceland, in June i860, and 

 is certainly found in Greenland early in the autumn, while generally 

 distributed during summer throughout the Arctic regions of America 

 as far west as the Mackenzie region, where it breeds abundantly ; 

 but in Alaska it is rare, only two specimens having been obtained 

 by Mr. Murdoch at Point Barrow. On migration it is common 

 in the Mississippi valley, and along the whole Atlantic coast to 

 Florida ; ranging southward to the West Indies, Central America, 

 Colombia, Brazil, the River Plate States, the Falkland Islands, the 

 Straits of Magellan, and, on the Pacific side, to I'cru and Chili. 



