CHAEADKIID^ PAVONCELLA 401 



Kowie Eiver, February (Layard), Port Elizabeth (Brown), Port St. 

 Johns, December (S. A. Mus.), Orange River near Upington, 

 November, February (Bradshaw) ; Natal^Durban Bay and Colenso 

 (Seebohm), Newcastle (Butler), Ulundi in Zululand (Woodward); 

 Transvaal — Potchefstroom, August, September, May (Ayres) ; 

 Ehodesia — Inyati, October, and Sibanini, December, in Matabeleland 

 (Oates), Sesheke, January (Holub), and Feira, August (Stoehr in 

 S. A. Mus.), both on the Zambesi, near Salisbury (Marshall) ; 

 German South-west Africa — Otjimbinque, September (Andersson) ; 

 Zambesi Eiver, August (Alexander). 



Habits. — The Common Sandpiper is found about running water 

 and fresh-water lakes; in South Africa it is generally solitary; it 

 swims and dives well, and lives on small insects and Crustacea. 



Genus III. PAYONCELLA. 



Type. 



PaYOncella, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Bds. B. M. p. 29 



(1816) P. pugnax. 



Bill moderate, about as long as the head and shorter than the 

 tarsus, straight and slender with the tip of the upper mandible 

 projecting beyond the lower and bent downwards ; nostrils linear, 

 in a groove running nearly to the tip of the bill ; wings moderate, 

 first primary the longest ; tail somewhat graduated, outer feathers 

 falling short of the central ones by about the length of the hind 

 toe ; tarsus scutellated before and behind as in Totanus ; a small 

 web between the outer and middle toes, that between the middle 

 and inner toes almost obsolete ; only a single notch on either side of 

 the keel of the sternum posteriorly. 



This genus is hardly separable from Totantts, except for the fact 

 that the male is always considerably larger than the female and 

 assumes during the breeding season a very remarkable plumage of 

 variable coloration and development. Only one bird, the well- 

 known Euff, is assigned to this genus ; it is found throughout the 

 greater part of the Old World and has accidentally occurred in 

 America. 



26 VOL. IV. 



