432 



TRINGA. 



Variations. AiiTHOUGH the Sanderling is circumpolar in its range, it is not known to vary locally in 

 any way. The variations due to season and age are fully described (Seebohm, British 

 Birds, hi. p. 224). Newton's opinion (Ibis, 1859, p. 256) that American examples are 

 larger than ours must have been arrived at after the examination of too small a series. 

 The length of wing varies from 4*7 to 5 - inch in both. 



Synonymy. Tringa calidris grisea minor, Brisson, Om. v. p. 236 (1760). 



Tringa arenaria, -» 



„, n . ,., . \Linneus, Si/st. Nat. i. pp. 251, 255 (1766). 



Lharadrms calidris, J * rr x ' 



Charadrius rubidus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 688 (1788). 



Arenaria vulgaris, Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. p. 462 a (1803). 



Arenaria grisea, Bechstein, Naturg. Deutschl. iii. p. 368 (1809). 



Arenaria calidris (Linn.), Meyer, Taschenb. ii. p. 326 (1810). 



Calidris arenaria (Linn.), Illiger, Prodr. p. 249 (1811). 



Calidris rubidus (Gmel), Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxx. p. 127 (1819). 



Calidris tringoides, Vieillut, Gat. des Ois. iii. p. £5 (1825). 



Trynga tridactyla, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. ii. p. 198 (1826). 



Literature Plates. — Gould, Birds Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 66 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii. pis. 559, 560. 



Habits.- — Seebohm, British Birds, iii. p. 221. 

 Eggs. — Feilden, Nares' Voy. Pol. Sea, ii. pi. i. ; Seebohm, British Birds, pi. 27. fig. 8. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Sanderling is most easily diagnosed by the absence of a hind toe. 



The Sanderling is a circumpolar bird, and doubtless breeds on all the coasts of the 

 Arctic Ocean, though its eggs have only been taken on the Anderson River (lat. 6 8°), in 

 Grinnell-Land (lat. 82^°), Greenland, Sabine Island (lat. 74±°), and in Iceland (lat. 65°). 

 On the Asiatic coast I have shot it myself in July in lat. 6n°, Middendorff observed it on 

 the Taimyr Peninsula in lat. 74°, and it is a common bird in summer in Alaska. Its lines 

 of migration are not only along the coasts of Europe, Asia, and America, but also across 

 country, as it occurs in some numbers in spring and autumn on the Volga, the Kama, and 

 Lake Baikal. Its winter range is very extensive, a few remaining in the basin of the 

 Mediterranean and on the islands of West Africa, but the greater number reaching 

 South Africa, where I found it a common bird both in Table Bay and near Durban. It 

 is particularly common on the Mekran coast, but very rare in India, Ceylon, and Burma. 

 It is a winter visitor to China, Japan, and the islands of the Malay Archipelago, the whole 

 of the coasts of South America, the West Indies, and the Bermudas (Reid, Zoologist, 

 1879, p. 477), and the Galapagos Archipelago (Dr. Habel, Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. 

 p. 503). 



