Family CHARADRIID^. Genus Totanus. 



Subfamily Totanin/E. 



COMMON SANDPIPER. 



TOTANUS HYPOLEUCUS— (Zm««?^j). 



Geographical Distribution.— ^rzVzi/z .• Passes the Channel 

 Islands on spring and autumn migration. Breeds in the moor- 

 land districts of Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, and northwards 

 through Wales to the Peak. Thence it becomes widely dis- 

 tributed in the upland districts, throughout the north of England, 

 and Scotland up to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and west to the 

 Outer Hebrides. From the wild nature of the country and its 

 suitability to the requirements of this species, the bird is widely 

 distributed in Ireland. Elsewhere in England it is chiefly known 

 on spring and autumn passage, but a few occasionally remain on 

 our southern coasts all the winter, as I have recently proved. 

 Foreign : Palffiarctic region. Breeds throughout Scandinavia, and 

 across Europe and Asia as far north as the Arctic Circle. In 

 Europe it breeds as far south as the Pyrenees, the Alps, the 

 Carpathians, the Balkans, the hills of Greece, and the Caucasus ; 

 whilst in Asia its summer range extends to Turkestan, Cashmere, 

 China, and Japan. The European birds winter throughout Africa, 

 and a few are said to be found all the year round in the basin of 

 the Mediterranean ; whilst others, probably immature, have been 

 noticed to remain during summer in Teneriffe and North-east 

 Africa. The Asiatic birds winter in India, Ceylon, Burma, the 

 Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and 

 Australia. 



Allied Forms. — Totanus macularius, the American repre- 

 sentative of the Common Sandpiper, an abnormal visitor to the 

 British Islands, and dealt with fully in the following chapter. 



