770 Birds of Celebes: Cliaradriidae. 



the wing, and by the absence of white on the rump and upper tail-coverts, as 

 well as the tail. Small structural differences should not, in our opinion, be 

 made use of for setting up new genera where this can possibly be avoided, but, 

 in the present case, if Heteractitis were united with Totanus, Actitis would have 

 to follow, and the barrier again between Tringa and Actitis is equally small. 



Dr. Stejneger describes //. hrevipes in its habits as follows: "This bird 

 makes quite a different impression on the observer from the other totanine 

 wanderers, and its habits seem to be rather peculiar, in many respects remind- 

 ing one of the Oyster-catcher. It carries its body much in the same manner 

 as Actitis hypoleucos, but very seldom flirts its tail up and down like the latter, 

 nor has it as much of the peculiar movement of the head and neck as the 

 common Sandinper. It is a much more quiet bird, very often standing immov- 

 able for a long while staring down into the water. Its flight is graceful and 

 very rapid. Its voice loud and harsh, almost screaming. I only met with it 

 among rocks and stones, seldom, if ever, on the sandy or gravelly beaches" (1). 



GENUS ACTITIS 111. 



Differs from Totanus chiefly by its more delicate bill in which the nasal 

 groove is continued into the terminal third almost to the tip, by its short tarsus, 

 and by the absence of white on the base of the tail and rump. From Heteractitis 

 it is distinguishable by its less pointed wing, the secondaries being more than 

 half the wing-length, by its bill, and by the bar of white across the middle of 

 the remiges on the inner webs, exposed by the bird when in flight. Two 

 species, one American, the other belonging to the Old World; migratory. 



^ 329. ACTITIS) HYPOLEUCOS (L.). 



Common Sandpiper. 



a. Tringa hypoleucos (1) Linn., S. N. 1766, I, 250. 



Actitis hypoleucos (1) lUig., Prodr. 1811, 262; (2) Boie, Isis 1822, 560; (III) Naum., 



Vijg. Deutscbl. 1836, Vm, 7, t. 194; (4) Schl., Mus. P.-B., Scolopaces, 1864, 80; 



(5) Walden, Tr. Z. S. 1872, VHI, 96; (6) Hartlaub, Vog. Madag. 1877, 327; 



(7) Rosenb., Malay. Ai-cbip. 1878, 278; (8) Oust., Bull. Soc. Pliilom. 1878, 186; 



(9) Milne-Ed. & Grandid., Ois. Madag. 1879, I, 622; (10) Meyer, Ibis 1879, 143, 



146; (11) Rosenb., Zool. Garten 1881, 167; (12) Stejn., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



1885, Nr. 29, 131; (13) Rams., Tab. List 1888, 20; (14) Wiglesw., Av. Polyn. 



1892, 64; (15) Ribbe, Jlx Ver. Erdk. Dresden 1892, 172; (16) Tacz., Faim. Orn. 



Sib. Orient. 1893, n, 882; (17) M. & Wg., Abb. Mus. Dresd. 1896, Nr. 1, p. 15. 

 I). Totanus hypoleucos (1) Temm., Man. d'Orn. 1815, 424; (II) Dresser, B. Europe VHI, 



127, pi. 563 (1877); (3) Seeb., Brit. B. 1S85, ID, 117, pi. 30 (eggs); (4) id., Di.str. 



1) Dr. Stejneger (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1885, Nr. 29, 131) shows how, by elimination, hypoleucos had 

 become the type of the genus Actitis of Illigcr as early as 1816; by tlie Rules of Nomenclature, therefore, 

 Tringoides Bp., 1831, may not displace Actitis. 



