Wayne: Birds of South Carolina. 51 



25 they have all departed for their breeding grounds, which 

 are in the Arctic regions. 



104. Ereunetes mauri Gundl. Western Sandpiper. 



The Western Sandpiper is the most abundant of all the waders 

 that winter on this coast. It is not unusual to see thousands 

 of these birds any day during the winter months. It can almost 

 be considered a permanent resident, as it is only absent from May 

 20 until July 8. The adults arrive in worn breeding plumage, 

 and immediately begin to moult the feathers of the head and throat. 

 By the first week in August they have acquired their autumn 

 plumage. 



The measurements given by Audubon for the Semipalmated 

 Sandpiper (Ereunetes pusillus) clearly indicate that the species 

 he described was not E. pusillus, but the Western Sandpiper 

 (E. mauri). Audubon says: "Adult [male] bill along the ridge 

 l^j inches," proving conclusively that he was describing a new 

 species, although he was not aware of the fact. The measure- 

 ment "1 T V inches" for the male is more than the maximum for 

 that sex and agrees with the measurements for the female. 



The Western Sandpiper breeds abundantly in Alaska. 



105. Calidris Ieucophaea (Pall.). Sanderling. 



The Sanderling is a permanent resident on this coast, yet it 

 does not breed, and the birds that are found in June and the early 

 part of July are always in immature, i. e. winter, plumage. By 

 the 30th of April they have acquired their breeding plumage, 

 and if the wind is from the south they migrate in the afternoon, 

 following the coast line to their breeding grounds, which are in 

 the Arctic regions. 



The adults in worn breeding plumage arrive from their breed- 

 ing grounds by July 14, and by July 30 they have commenced 

 to undergo the autumn moult. This is so rapid that by August 

 18 scarcely any trace of their summer plumage remains. The 

 female is larger than the male, and the male in winter plumage 

 differs from the female at this season by having the lesser and 

 middle coverts, as well as the tertials, edged with blackish. 



This interesting species is eminently a beach bird and I have 

 never seen one on a mud fiat at any season of the year. 



The Sanderling is cosmopolitan, being found in Patagonia, 



