CHAEADEIID^ TOTANUS 389 



As in the case of the Curlew, some individuals, generally im- 

 mature, appear to spend the whole year both in the winter and 

 summer quarters ; but hitherto the Whimbrel has not been known 

 to breed within our limits. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Port Nol- 

 loth, December (S. A. Mus.), St. Helena Bay in Malmesbury, Sep- 

 tember (Stark), Cape division, August (S. A. Mus.), Knysna, 

 November (Marais), February (Stark) ; Natal — Durban Harbour, 

 March (Seebohm) ; Transvaal — Potchefstroom, November (Ayres) ; 

 German South-west Africa — Walvisch Bay, September (Andersson). 



Habits. — The Whimbrel is much less plentiful than the Curlew 

 in South Africa, though it closely resembles the latter in its habits 

 and is generally associated with it in the same localities. It is 

 a bird of powerful flight and very wary and difficult to approach. 

 Its food consists of small moUusca, Crustacea and insects about mud 

 flats and sand beaches. In the north it is stated to be partial to 

 bilberries and to feed much more on the land than the Curlew ; its 

 note is a rippling whistle, " tatty tatty tet." As already stated, it 

 has not hitherto been known to breed in South Africa. 



Genus. II. TOTANUS. 



Type. 

 Totanus, Cuvier, Legon Anat. Comp. i, tabl. 2 (1800) ... T. calidris 



Bill long and slender, usually longer than the head, straight or 

 very slightly up-curved ; tip of the upper mandible hard and bent 

 downwards ; nostrils linear slits in a groove extending at least halt 

 the length of the bill ; wings moderate, first primary the longest ; 

 tail slightly rounded ; tarsus rather variable in length but usually 

 longer than the middle toe and claw, invariably covered with trans- 

 verse scutes before and behind ; hind toe present, anterior toes 

 united by a web of somewhat variable development, sometimes 

 almost rudimentary, between the inner and middle toes. 



Owing to variations in the relative lengths of the bill and tarsus 

 and in the development of the basal web between the toes, the 

 Sandpipers have been split into a number of genera by some 

 authors. I have here followed Mr. Blanford and other recent 

 authors and disregarded these distinctions. 



Sandpipers are generally distributed all over the world, and 



