BUFF-BKEASTED SANDPIPER 325 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 12*5 in. Female, 10 in. 



WING 7'25 6 



BEAK .., 1*5 ,, ,, 1*3 ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... 2 ,, 1*75 ,, 



EGG.. 1-8 x 1-2 in. 



BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. Tringites rufescens (Vieillot). 



Cofaired Figures. Gould, 'Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 64 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe," vol. viii, pi. 561 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pi. 43. 



The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is an American species, of 

 very rare occurrence in Britain. Like many other Trans- 

 atlantic wanderers, it has been secured most often on the 

 east sides of England and Ireland, and chiefly in autumn. 

 The first British specimen appears to be one taken at 

 Melbourne, near Cambridge, in 1826. Subsequently this 

 species has been secured in Norfolk, 1 Sussex, Cornwall, 

 the Scilly Isles, Lundy Isle, and Cumberland. A specimen 

 is said to have been taken at Formby, in Lancashire, in 

 May, 1829. 



" As regards a supposed Caithness specimen mentioned 

 by K. Gray, Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley merely 

 remark that the species is on Dr. Sinclair's list " (Saunders). 

 In Ireland two examples have been taken, both on the east 

 coast. One on Dublin Bay (Keport, Dub. Nat. Hist. Soc., 

 1844-45). This specimen is preserved in the Dublin 

 Museum. Another was obtained near Belfast, about 

 October, 1864 (' Zoologist,' 1866, pp. 389 and 457). This 

 bird is preserved in the Belfast Museum. 



1 In the ' Zoologist ' for 1900, p. 110, Mr. J. H. Gurney states that 

 a beautiful young male Buff-breasted Sandpiper was shot on the shingle 

 at Cley, Norfolk, by Mr. Arnold, on September 8th, 1899. " Its nicely 

 mottled upper parts are very different from the dark back of our old 

 Museum specimen, said to have been shot in July, a few miles east of 

 where the present one was procured." This appears to be the most 

 recent capture recorded. 



