BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER 325 
AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH ... lo ete emale, 10 “in: 
WING A+ =e reed Soe wom iF Otten; 
BEAK pee athe reg, a, eS? 5; 
TARSO-METATARSUS fag cet 7 Kg ore, 
HGG... ae as Lae Sexo ams 
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. TZvingites rwfescens (Vieillot). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, pl. 
64; Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,” vol. viii, pl. 561; Lilford, 
‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. v, pl. 43. 
The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is an American species, of 
very rare occurrence in Britain. Like many other Trans- 
atlantic wanderers, it has been secured most often on the 
east sides of England and Ireland, and chiefly in autumn. 
The first British specimen appears to be one taken at 
Melbourne, near Cambridge, in 1826. Subsequently this 
species has been secured in Norfolk,’ Sussex, Cornwall, 
the Scilly Isles, Lundy Isle, and Cumberland. A specimen 
is said to have been taken at Formby, in Lancashire, in 
May, 1829. 
“As regards a supposed Caithness specimen mentioned 
by R. Gray, Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley merely 
remark that the species is on Dr. Sinclair’s list ’ (Saunders). 
In Ireland two examples have been taken, both on the east 
coast. One on Dublin Bay (Report, Dub. Nat. Hist. Soc., 
1844-45). This specimen is preserved in the Dublin 
Museum. Another was obtained near Belfast, about 
October, 1864 (‘ Zoologist,’ 1866, pp. 389 and 4517). This 
bird is preserved in the Belfast Museum. 
‘In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1900, p. 110, Mr. J. H. Gurney states that 
a beautiful young male Buff-breasted Sandpiper was shot on the shingle 
at Cley, Norfolk, by Mr. Arnold, on September 8th, 1899. ‘Its nicely 
mottled upper parts are very different from the dark back of our old 
Museum specimen, said to have been shot in July, a few miles east of 
where the present one was procured.’ This appears to be the most 
recent capture recorded. 
