166 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



two at the Etang Bois-Neuf July 25, observing many others. He 

 recorded several at Les Salines July 30. Bond reports them from 

 Gonave Island. Poole and Perrygo shot a female (culmen 18.1 mm.) 

 on Monte Chico Island in the Seven Brothers group January 29, 1929, 

 and two males (culmen 17.5 and 19.1 mm.) at Fort Liberte February 

 10, 1929. 



The Linnaean name for this species is based on Brisson's description 

 of the Petite Alouette-de-mer de S. Domingue, Cinclus Dominicensis 

 minor taken from a bird in the collection of de Reaumur secured by 

 Chervain in " S. Domingue." Descourtilz speaks of a bird called 

 the maringouin that he says is very small and flies in dense flocks so 

 that on one occasion he killed 120 with two shots, that is probably 

 this species. 



This sandpiper is found on extensive mudflats and often congre- 

 gates in large flocks that patter quickly about in friendly company 

 in search of food, and when alarmed take flight in close bands that 

 pass swiftly through the air, moving and turning with the greatest 

 precision as though practised in intricate maneuvers by some stern 

 drillmaster. 



The species is similar in size to the least sandpiper but may be 

 distinguished in life by the distinctly black bill and tarsi, these being 

 greenish in the related species, and in the hand by the small webs 

 beween the toes. 



EREUNETES MAURI Cabanis 



WESTERN SANDPIPER 



Ereunetes mauri Cabanis, Journ. fur Ornith., 1856, p. 149 (Cuba). — Bartsch, 

 Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 30, July 27, 1917, p. 132 (Haiti). 



Migrant from western North America. 



Among specimens taken on the salt flats north of Port-au-Prince 

 April 25, 1917 by Paul Bartsch there is one that is identified as this 

 species as it has a bill measurement of 26.8 mm. Poole and Perrygo 

 found the western sandpiper in numbers on the Seven Brothers 

 Islands off the north coast of Haiti in 1929 and collected fourteen 

 males and eight females on Muertos Island February 1, and one fe- 

 male February 2. Measurements of the culmen in the males are as 

 follows: 21.4, 21.7, 21.7, 22,0, 22.3, 22.8, 22.9, 23.0, 23.9, 23.9, 24.1, 

 24.1, and 24.7 mm. : in females 24.6, 26.0, 26.2, 26.3, 27.2, 27.3, 27.5, 

 27.9, and 29.3 mm. The first three males are a trifle small but fit in 

 this series better than in E. pusillus. All are in winter plumage so 

 that no color differences are evident. The occurrence of the western 

 sandpiper in such numbers at this point is somewhat surprising, and 

 indicates that attention should be paid to the collection of more of 

 this genus to determine the relative abundance of the two species 

 involved. 



