igB BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



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* 



PECTORAL SANDPIPER 



Tringa maculata 



Above brown, varied with black ; superciliaries whitish ; rump and 

 middle upper tail-coverts white ; beneath white ; neck and breast 

 greyish streaked with blackish ; length 8.5, wing 5.1 inches. Female 

 similar. 



THE Pectoral Sandpiper is a well-known North- 

 American species that visits the south during migra- 

 tion. 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 Chupat* Near the end of 

 August it begins to arrive in La Plata, usually in 

 very small flocks or singly ; and among these first 

 comers there are some young birds so immature, 

 with threads of yellow down still adhering to the 

 feathers of the head and altogether weak in appear- 

 ance, that one can scarcely credit the fact that so soon 

 after being hatched they have actually performed 

 the stupendous journey from the northern extremity 

 of the North American continent to the Buenos- 

 Ayrean pampas* 



This species differs from other Sandpipers in 



