784 Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 



5 specimens of Tringa arenaria are put down. The record in itself is probable 

 enougli, and v. Rosenberg's list of birds from Limbotto seems to be fairly free 

 from error, which is unfortunately more than can be said for that in his 

 "Malayischen Archipel". Where these five specimens, if rightly determined, 

 now are is unknown; the most accomplished travellers, without a museum and 

 library to help them, sometimes err in their determinations, and some doubt 

 must exist about the occurrence of the Sandeiiing in Celebes until further evi- 

 dence is forthcoming. Mr. Biittikofer kindly informs us (in lit.) that there 

 is no specimen of C, arenaria from Celebes in the Leyden Museum, which 

 contains most of v. Rosenberg's results. 



As a breeding species the Sanderling is an arctic bird, and its eggs rank 

 among the greatest rarities, having been discovered as yet only in four spots 

 — in British Arctic America as mentioned above, in Grinnell Land, Green- 

 land, and Iceland. In autumn it migrates south and has been met with as far 

 as Cape Colony in Africa and Patagonia in America. According to David it 

 is abundant in China both as a bird of passage and as a winter visitor. Further 

 south in this direction it seems to be of much more uncommon occurrence. In 

 1880 Legge (5) could only point to one specimen killed in Ceylon out of a 

 flock, and Armstrong up to 1883 had alone obtained it in Pegu (6). Three 

 specimens are now known from North Borneo (12) and three from Java. None 

 have as yet been recorded from the Philippines, nor from Sumatra, nor from 

 the islands east and south-east of Java and Celebes. 



The Sanderling may easily be distinguished from all other Stints by its 

 having no hind toe. From the three-toed Plovers its more slender deeply grooved 

 bill, in the basal fourth of which the nostril is situated, and for most cases its 

 transversely scaled (not reticulated) tarsus are sufficient marks to distinguish it. 

 Some embryos from eggs taken in Iceland, believed to be of the Sanderling, 

 were found by Messrs H. H. Slater and T. Carter (Ibis 1886, 50) to possess a 

 hind toe. 



The Sanderling haunts the strand of the sea, of rivers and of lakes, feeding 

 upon insects, their larvae and small worms. 



GENUS PHALAROPUS Briss. 



The Phalaropes are easily distinguished from the other Limicolae by having 

 the soles of the toes broadened so as to form swimming lobes, much as is seen 

 in the Coots and Grebes, and towards the base of the toes united to form a 

 web. In other respects they are like the Stints. (Compare, also, fig. of sternum 

 in Seebohm's "Charadriidae", pp. 343, 414). They differ from their allies by their 

 aquatic habits. Three species are known; migratory; almost cosmopolitan. 



