242 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



June. The breeding home of the species will probably be 

 found in the New Siberian Islands, as the nesting of the species 

 on Kolguev, where it was thought that the Curlew-Sandpiper 

 might breed, has not been verified by the recent explorations 

 of Mr. Trevor-Battye and the Messrs. Pearson. 



Habits. The Curlew-Sandpiper is often found in flocks on 

 our mud-flats and shingles in the autumn, where they either feed 

 in company or consort with the Dunlins, from which they can 

 hardly be distinguished by an ordinary observer. Occasionally 

 a single bird may be procured, and in the case where it is found 

 solitary, it is generally a young bird which is wending its way 

 south alone, or an old bird which is resting on its way to com- 

 plete its moult, as is evidenced by the number of red feathers 

 which it has not shed. Its habits and food are so precisely 

 like those of the Dunlin, that no special description is neces- 

 sary. 



Nest. Unknown. 

 Eggs. Unknown. 



THE PECTORAL SANDPIPERS. GENUS HETEROPYGIA. 



Heteropygia, Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1861, p. 191. 

 Type, H.fuscicollis (V.). 



The members of this genus are four in number, and three 

 of them have occurred accidentally in Great Britain. They 

 have generally been associated with the Knots and Dunlins in 

 the genera Tringa and Pelidna, but they differ from these 

 in the shorter bill, which is not longer than the tarsus, and 

 thus they are more closely allied to the Stints (Limonites) and 

 the Sanderling (Calidris). They differ, however, from the latter 

 genera in having the tarsus longer than the middle toe and 

 c aw. 



i. BONAPARTE'S SANDPIPER. HETEROPYGIA FUSCICOLLIS. 



Tringa fuscicollis, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist Nat. xxxiv. p. 461 

 (1819); Dresser. B. Eur. viii. p. 15, pi. 547 (1873); 

 B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 168 (1883); Saunders, Man. 

 Brit. B. p. 567 (1889). 



