Specific 

 characters. 



372 



TOTANUS. 



The Common Sandpiper and its American ally combine the characters of white 

 axillaries, large patches of white on most of the primaries and secondaries, but no white 

 on the rump or upper tail-coverts. In breeding-plumage the American bird has the under- 

 parts conspicuously spotted, but young in first plumage, and possibly both young and 

 adult in winter plumage, resemble the European form in having no spots on the under- 

 parts. To distinguish the two species at all ages and seasons it is necessary to examine 

 the secondaries. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



T. hypoleucus. 



Eighth and ninth secondaries nearly 

 white. 



T. macularius. 



Eighth and ninth secondaries with a 

 broad brown band across both webs. 



The Common Sandpiper is an extremely numerous species, and has a very extensive 

 range, reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It breeds throughout Scandinavia, but in 

 North Russia and Siberia it is not found north of the Arctic Circle. It breeds in suitable 

 localities throughout Europe, including the British Islands ; and in Asia as far south as 

 Turkestan (and possibly Persia), Cashmere, China, and Japan. A few remain all the year 

 round in the basin of the Mediterranean, but its principal winter-quarters are throughout 

 Africa in suitable localities : I found it common on rivers of Natal, both at Colenso about 

 500 feet above the sea, and on the shores of the lagoons at the mouth of the Umgeni river, 

 as well as amongst the mangroves in Durban Bay. It also winters in India, Ceylon, 

 Burma, the islands of the Malay Archipelago, the coasts of New Guinea and Australia, and 

 is said to be generally distributed in the Solomon Islands (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, 

 p. 124). It has been found during the breeding-season in Teneriffe and North-east Africa, 

 but in neither of these localities have its eggs been obtained. 



TOTANUS MACULARIUS. 



SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 



Diaguosis. Totanus axillaribus albis : secundariarum octavse nonaeque pogoniis ambobus strigS. brunnea, lata 

 notatis : supra caudalibus uropygioque baud albo notatis. 



Variations. No local races of this species are known. 



