TRINGA MACULATA. 183 



white and barred with black ; coverts with large oval spots of clear white : 

 beneath, throat and breast dark brownish, with a conspicuous white neck-collar 

 on each side ; belly white, flanks tinged with buffy ; bill greenish, reddish at 

 tip ; feet flesh-colour : whole length 8-0 inches, wing 4-1, tail 2-0. Female 

 similar, but slightly larger and more brightly coloured. 



Hab. Southern parts of South America, from Peru to Patagonia. 



In the Argentine provinces this bird is called Dormilon (Sleepy-head), 

 in allusion to its dull habits, which are like those of a nocturnal species. 

 It passes the daylight hours concealed in dense reed-beds, rising only 

 when almost trodden on ; the flight is feeble and erratic, the rapid 

 wing-flutterings alternating with intervals of gliding, and after going a 

 short distance the bird drops again like a Rail into the rushes. From 

 its behaviour on the ground, also in flying, when it appears dazed with the 

 light, I have no doubt that it is altogether nocturnal or crepuscular in 

 its habits. It is solitary and resident, and may be met with in small 

 numbers in every marsh or stream in the Plata district, where its 

 favourite reed-beds afford it cover. It appears to have no cry or note 

 of any kind, for even when frightened from its nest and when the eggs 

 are on the point of hatching it utters no sound. The eggs never exceed 

 two in number and are placed on the wet ground, often without any 

 lining, among the close grass and herbage near the water. They are 

 oblong and bluntly pointed at the smaller end, and have a white ground- 

 colour, but so densely marked and blotched with black that in some 

 cases they appear to be almost wholly of that colour, or like black eggs 

 flecked with white. 



399. TRINGA MACULATA, Vieill. 

 (PECTORAL SANDPIPER.) 



Tringa maculata, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 145; iid. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 455 

 Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 68 (Buenos Ayres); Bar* 

 rows, Auk, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios) ; Saunders, YarrelVs Birds, iii. p. 368. 

 Actodromas maculata, Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A. i. p. 232. 

 Tringa acuminata pectoralis, Seebohm, Plovers, p. 443. 



Description. Above brown, varied with black ; superciliaries whitish ; rum]) 

 and middle upper tail-coverts blackish, lateral tipper tail-coverts white : beneath 

 white ; neck and breast pale greyish streaked with blackish : whole length 8'5 

 inches, wing 5-1, tail 2-4, bill 1-1. Female similar. 



Hab. Arctic America, migratiug south to Patagonia in winter. 



The Pectoral Sandpiper is a well-known North-American species that 

 visits the south during migration. It breeds abundantly in Alaska, and 

 descends in winter through Central and South America to Chili and 

 Patagonia. Durnford found it abundant about the salt-lagoons of 



