TEING-OIDES HYPOLEUCUS. 869 



cannot be expected that they would breed there. It has never come under my notice in July; and during a tour 

 I made through the tank-districts in that month I made particular search for it, but without success. As 

 many breed in Cashmere, it may be assumed that it is to that region these birds, which are so short a time 

 absent from the island, resort for the purpose of nesting. All round the coast, and even about the Colombo 

 Lake and on the sea-shore near the town, this Sandpiper is common; and on the salt-lagoons of the west and 

 south coasts it is invariably seen. It affects the rivers of this part of the island far inland ; but not so much 

 those which traverse the forests in the east and north of the island, although there is no saying where one 

 will not meet with a pair in wandering through these jungle-wilds; and as to the shores of the large tanks, they 

 are a favourite haunt. In the Central Province it is locally diffused, and at Nuwara Eliya was met with 

 by Mr. Holdsworth in February. 



In the Laccadive Islands it is very common, as Mr. Hume observed it on all the islands he visited. 

 Throughout the Indian empire it is generally distributed ; but Jerdon did not find it so common as the Wood- 

 and Green Sandpipers ; he found it usually about the shores of tidal rivers, canals, and on the pebbly banks 

 of rivers. Far inland, in suitable localities, it can scarcely be less plentiful than in the maritime regions. In 

 the Deccan it is said to be common ; and Dr. Fairbank records it from Ahmednagar. It is found on all the 

 rivers in Chota Nagpur, writes Mr. Ball ; and he notes it from the valley of the Godaveri. About Calcutta it 

 does not seem to be so common as its above-mentioned allies ; and from Furreedpore it is not recorded. 

 Captain Beavan found it less plentiful in Lower Bengal than the Green Sandpiper. In Guzerat, writes 

 Captain Butler, it occurs round the edges of most of the tanks between Deesa and Ahmedabad ; and his dates of 

 its arrival and departure are the 4th of August and the 20th of May. In Sindh Mr. Hume occasionally met 

 with it, and about Karachi and Hyderabad it is not uncommon. In the Sambhur-Lake district it is rare. 

 Further north in Cashmere it is common in the breeding-season, and all along the base of the Himalayas it is 

 to be met with. Mr. Brooks recoi'ds it from Derali in the valley of the Bhagarati. 



In Pegu it is said to be common ; and Mr. Oates has met with it there in August. In the Irrawaddy 

 delta it is not abundant [Armstrong) ; but in Tenasserim it is common everywhere, both inland and on the 

 coast. It is abundant in the Andamans, not departing, according to Mr. Davison, before the middle of May, 

 and returning again during the latter half of August. Mr. Hume's remark on it would well apply to Ceylon ; 

 he says, " From Preparis to Galatea Bay the Common Sandpiper was the one bird that, wander where one 

 might along the coast, it was impossible to avoid seeing." In the Malay peninsula it is recorded from Kopah, 

 Malacca, and Chopong; and at Singapore it is not uncommon ; it has also been procured in the Nicobar 

 Islands. It inhabits the entire eastern coast of the continent, summering in Japan between the months of 

 April and August, and affecting all the rivers there, residing likewise in China throughout the year, inhabiting 

 the islands of Hainan and Formosa, and extending eastwards to the Philippines, throughout which group it 

 is evidently diffused, for recently the islands of Cebu, Luzon, Mindanao, and Camiguin have been added to its 

 habitat by various naturalists. Further east still it has been obtained by Dr. Finsch at the Pelew Islands. 

 It is spread entirely throughout the Malay archipelago, and, as time goes on, will probably be recorded from 

 every island in that vast group. At present it is recorded from Sumatra (where Mr. Everett likewise recently 

 procured it), Java, and Bangka; likewise from many parts of Borneo (where it was obtained in Sarawak in 

 August) and from Labuan ; also from Flores, Ceram, Timor, Amboina, and Celebes. In the latter island 

 Dr. Meyer procured it recently at Limbotto in July, and in the adjacent Tongian Islands in August, from 

 which it is to be inferred that immature birds remain there occasionally throughout the year. It has further 

 been obtained in Halmahera, Morotai, Batchian, Waigiou, and New Guinea; from the latter island it 

 has been recorded by several naturalists ; and recently Mr. L. Stone met with it at Port Moresby. It is 

 spread throughout the entire coast-line (as far as it has been explored) of the vast island-continent of 

 Australia, extending to Tasmania. It has not been met with, according to Mr. Ramsay, anywhere in the 

 interior. 



From India northwards it wanders in the summer up to the Arctic circle, spreading eastwards to Kanit- 

 chatka, and westward to the northern limits of Europe. Betweeu Kashmir and Yarkand, Dr. Henderson 

 procured it on the Sujet Pass at an altitude of 17,000 feet; and Dr. Scully saw it on the banks of the 

 Karakash, Sanju, and Arpalak rivers ; but neither he nor Dr. Henderson met with it on the plains of Kasgharia. 

 Severtzoff says that it breeds throughout Turkestan. According to Prjevalsky, it breeds on the rivers of 



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