398 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus CALIDRIS, Guv. 



739. CALIDRIS ARENARIA. 

 THE SANDERLING. 



Tringa arenaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 251. Charadrius calidris, Linn. Syst. 

 Nat. i. p. 256. Calidris arenaria, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 694 ; Hume, S. F. i. 

 p. 244 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 322 j Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 343 ; Hume, S. F. 

 iv. p. 465 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 467 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. viii. p. 101, pi. ; 

 Hume, S. F. viii. p. 113 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 1220 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 240. 



Description. Winter plumage. Forehead, face and the whole lower 

 plumage pure white ; crown, nape, hind neck, back and scapulars pale 

 ashy, the crown with well-defined black shaft- streaks, the other parts with 

 narrower and less distinct shaft-streaks ; wing-coverts blackish, the median 

 and greater coverts broadly edged with white ; primaries dark brown, 

 blacker on the tips and outer webs, the shafts white, a portion of the outer 

 webs of the later ones white ; secondaries black, whitish at base and tipped 

 with white ; tertiaries rather broadly edged with white ; tail pale brown on 

 the outer webs, more or less white on the inner. 



Irides dark brown ; bill, legs, feet and claws black. (Armstrong.) 



Length 7*5 inches, tail 2, wing 4'8, tarsus ( 1, bill from gape 1*1. The 

 female is a trifle larger. 



The above description is taken from European specimens in the plumage 

 of January. Birds shot in October (arid they are likely to occur in Bur- 

 mah in this month) have the crown, back and scapulars more or less black, 

 the feathers with terminal patches of whitish on both webs. In the full 

 summer plumage the crown, nape, back and scapulars are black margined 

 with rusty red, and the sides of the head, throat and breast are rufous 

 marked with black. 



The Sanderling was procured by Dr. Armstrong at Elephant Point, and 

 there is no other instance of its occurrence in British Burmah ; but it is 

 likely to be met with along the whole sea-coast. This Wader is remarkable 

 for having no hind toe, and it may therefore be easily recognized. 



It has a very wide distribution, being found, according to season, over 

 nearly the entire globe. In the south-east of Asia it has been recorded 

 from Cochin China by Dr. Tiraud and from Java, but it does not appear to 

 extend to Australia or to the islands of the Pacific Ocean. It summers in 

 very high latitudes far within the Arctic circle, and the nest has been found 

 in lat. 82 N. on the coasts of North America. 



It is confined apparently to the sea- coast, seldom or never coming 

 inland. 



