398 CHARADRIID.ZE TOTANUS 



Length about 8'5; wing 5-6; tail 2-1 ; culmen 1-4 ; tarsus 1-3. 



The sexes are alike ; in the breeding plumage the back is con- 

 siderably spotted with white ; the head and neck streaked with the 

 same colour. This bird has only one posterior emargination on 

 each side of the keel of the sternum, and has consequently been 

 usually placed in a distinct genus, but variations of this kind are 

 not uncommon among the Liinicolae, even in forms closely allied in 

 outward appearance and habits. 



Distribution. The Green Sandpiper ranges all over Europe and 

 Asia from the Atlantic to the Pacific, breeding in the north up to 

 the Arctic circle and spending the winter in Southern Asia and 

 Europe and throughout the greater part of Africa. 



The occurrence of the Green Sandpiper in South Africa rests on 

 the authority of Mr. Layard, who stated that he received several 

 examples of this bird from Mr. Arnot, procured near Colesberg, and 

 that it also occurred at Zoetendals Vley in Bredasdorp, near 

 Knysna, and at the Kowie Kiver mouth. No other observer or 

 collector, however, has noticed the occurrence of this Sandpiper in 

 South Africa, nor is there a South African example in the South 

 African Museum. It is quite possible, therefore, that Mr. Layard 

 was mistaken in regard to the matter. 



743. Totanus cinereus. Terek Sandpiper. 



Scolopax cinerea, Guldenst., Nov. Comm. Petrop. xix, p. 473, pi. 19 

 (1774). 



Terekia cinerea, Gurney, Ibis, 1863, p. 330 [Natal] ; Dresser, B. Eur. 

 viii, p. 195, pi. 572 (1871) ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaraland 

 p. 304 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard' 8 B. S. Afr. p. 691 (1884) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 474 (1896) ; Eeichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 214 (1900). 



Limosa cinerea, Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vogel p. 129 (1865) ; Layard, 

 B. S. Afr. p. 323 (1867). 



Totanus terekia, Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 369, with fig. (1888). 



Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage. General colour 

 above, including the crown and upper tail-coverts pale greyish- 

 brown, with faint dark shaft stripes; wing-quills and coverts 

 blackish, the outer primaries with white bases on the inner web, 

 the inner ones tipped and margined with white as well, secondaries 

 broadly tipped and margined with white ; tail-feathers like the 

 back, the outer ones paler, almost white and slightly mottled, but 

 not barred ; a white supra-loral and superciliary patch not extend- 



