BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER. 189 



TRINGA BONAPARTI. 



BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER. 



(PLATE 31.) 



Tringa fuscicollis, Vieill. N. Did. d'Hist. Nat. xxxiv. p. 461 (1819). 



Tringa campestris, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 74 (1823). 



Tringa schiuzii, Bonap. Syn. U.S. Birds, p. 242 (1828, nee Brehm). 



Pelidna schinzi, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer. p. 50 (1838, nee Brehm). 



Tringa bonapartii, Schleg. Rev. Crit. p. 89 (1844) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Baird, Cassin fy Lawrence, Coues, Abbott, Sdater Sf Salvin, Blakiston, &c. 

 ScliJeniclus schinzii (Bonap.}, Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 105 (1844, nee 



Brehm). 



Pelidna dorsalis, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 92 (1854). 

 Actodroinas (Heteropygia) bonapartii (Schleg}, Coues, Proc: Philad. Acad. 1861, p. 199. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper is another of those American species that occa- 

 sionally wander across the Atlantic to the British Islands. Upwards of a 

 dozen examples of this bird have been obtained, principally in October and 

 November. The first specimen of Bonaparte's Sandpiper recorded in our 

 islands was killed previous to 1839 near Stoke Heath in Shropshire 

 (Eyton, Ann. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 53, and Gould, B. Eur. iv. no. 330). Since 

 this record three examples have been obtained in the Scilly Islands, two in 

 Cornwall, four in Devon, two in Sussex, and one in Middlesex. An 

 example, said to have been killed in Ireland, is in the Belfast Museum. 

 This bird does not appear to have been observed in any part of Europe 

 except in the British Islands. It no doubt often escapes notice from its 

 close resemblance to the Dunlin. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper breeds in the Arctic regions of North-east 

 America and Greenland ; but it has not occurred west of the Rocky 

 Mountains. It passes through the United States and the Bermudas on 

 migration, and winters in the West Indies, Central America, and the 

 whole of South America *. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper passes northwards through the United States in 

 May, on its way to its breeding-grounds in the Arctic regions. Its lines 

 of migration appear to be inland as well as along the coast. It journeys 

 in small flocks, and is said to be a very tame and gentle little bird. No 

 Sandpiper is more gregarious and sociable, and not only does it keep in 



* Bonaparte's Sandpiper is said to be a resident in Central Patagonia (Durnford, ' Ibis,' 

 1878, p. 404), and to breed on the Falkland Islands (Capt. Abbott, ' Ibis,' 1861, p. 157). 

 If these wonderful statements are correct, they are profoundly interesting; but before thej 

 can be accepted as facts, unimpeachable evidence of their truth must be produced. 



