180 BRITISH BIRDS. 



TRINGA SUBARQUATA. 

 CURLEW SANDPIPER. 



Scolopax subarquata, Giild. Nov. Comm, Petrop. xix. p. 471, pi. xvii. (1775) ; et 

 auctorum plurimorum (Blasius), (Naumann), (Schlegel), (Temminck), 

 (Gould), (Dresser), (Sounders), &c. 



Numenius pygmaeus, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 291 (1787). 



Scolopax africana, I Gmd ^ ^ ^ 655 (17gg)> 



Scolopax pygmaea (Lath.), I 



Numenius alricanus (Gmel.), Lath. 2nd. Orn. ii. p. 712 (1790). 



Scolopax dethardingii, Siemss. Handb. Mecklenb. Land- u. Wasservb'gel, p. 169 (1794). 



Numenius subarquata (Quid.), Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii. p. 276 (1803). 



Numenius ferruginous, Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 356 (1810). 



Tringa subarquata (Giild.), Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 393 (1815). 



Tringa pygmsea (Lath.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 30 (1816). 



Erolia variegata, Vieill. Analyse, p. 55 (1816). 



Falcinellus pygmseus (Lath.), Cuv. Regn. An. i. p. 486 (1817). 



Trynga falcinella, Pott. Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii. p. 188 (1826). 



Ancylocheilus subarquatus (Giild.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 50 (1829). 



Pelidna subarquata (Giild.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 657 (1831). 



Tringa (Pelidna) chinensis, Gray, Zool. Miscell. p. 2 (1831). 



JErolia varia, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. ii. p. 89 (1834). 



Falcinellus cuvieri, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer. p. 50 (1838). 



Schaeniclus subarquatus (Giild.), Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 105 (1844). 



Tringa subarcuata (Giild.), Finsch $ Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 761 (1870). 



It is rather remarkable that the Curlew Sandpiper escaped the attention 

 of both Linnaeus and Brisson. It appears to have been first discovered 

 about 1772, when it was described and figured by Pennant (' Genera 

 of Birds/ p. 65, pi. xi.) from an example sent to him from Holland by 

 Dr. Gronovius. It was first recorded as a British bird by Latham, who 

 obtained an example in 1786, which was shot near Sandwich, in Kent. 



The Curlew Sandpiper is probably often mistaken for the Dunlin, and 

 consequently looked upon as a rarer bird than it really is. It is not an 

 uncommon bird on migration in the British Islands, occurring on many 

 parts of the coast, but being most numerous on those shores where exten- 

 sive mud-flats are exposed at low water. It is more numerous on the east 

 coasts, both of Scotland and England, than on the west, and is much more 

 common in autumn than in spring. It is a regular autumn visitor to 

 Ireland, and a few probably winter on the south coast. It is only known 

 as a rare visitor to the Channel Islands. The statement made by Gray, that 

 this species had bred in a sedgy bog on the Loch of Spynie, near Elgin, 

 and that its nest was discovered on the 8th of June, 1853, containing four 



