564 A PEACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



upper -parts mottled, black, red and grey ; upper-breast pale chest- 

 nut. White wing-bar conspicuous in flight ; no white band on 

 rump or tail but narrow white border on either side of uniformly 

 coloured central area. Note sharp, but not loud, " wick, wick." 

 Walter describes love-song, uttered on wing, as harsh " trr-trr-trr." 



Breeding-habits. — A bird of the Arctic tundra, breeding usually 

 on rather bare, stony patches. Nest. — Merely a scrape in hollow 

 at edge of tuft of Dryas, the cup lined with dead leaves of Salix 

 arctica. Eggs. — Normally 4, pyriform, ground-colour pale greenish 

 when fresh fading to buffish or ochreous, and sparsely marked with 

 small brown spots and ashy shellmarks, with occasionally a blackish 

 streak or a spot or two at the large end. Average of 41 eggs, 35.7 X 

 24.7. Max.: 38.2x24.7 and 34.1 X26.1. Min. : 33.1x24.4 and 

 35.3x23.5 mm. Breeding -season. — From June 20th onward in 

 Greenland, but on the Taimyr chiefly in early July. Single brooded. 

 Incubation. — Fide Manniche by hen alone, but Feilden and Walter 

 report males shot from eggs. Period 23-24 days (Manniche). 



Food. — Chiefly picked up on shore and includes small Crustacea 

 (sandhoppers, etc.), remains of fish ; mollusca (small univalves, 

 bivalves, pteropoda and egg-cases of Buccinum), worms, etc. Also 

 buds and seeds of arctic plants (Saxifraga oppositifolia and Sali- 

 cornia), bits of moss and algae. Also recorded as taking insects 

 (small beetles and flies) and Medusae cast up on shore. 



Distribution. — British Isles. — Winter-visitor and passage -migrant 

 (late July to mid -Nov. and early April to mid -June). Widely dis- 

 tributed on sandy coasts but scarce west Scotland. Chiefly passage- 

 migrant staying through autumn, but a good many winter. Non- 

 breeding birds observed frequently throughout summer. Occa- 

 sional inland. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Breeds in arctic regions (Spitsbergen, 

 north Siberia (recorded Taimyr and New Siberian Is.), Iceland (?), 

 from Melville Island and Ellesmere Land to Greenland, Alaska). 

 In winter and during migration all the lands southwards, as far as 

 south Africa, Java, Borneo, Philippines, Australia, the Marshall 

 and Hawaiian Islands, and in America* Chile and Patagonia. 



Genus CALIDRIS Anonymous.* 



Caldris Anonymous, Allg. Lit.-Zeitung, 1804, n,No. 168, Col. 542 (Type 

 by tautonymy : Tringa calidris = canutus). {Erolia, 1816). 



Large genus of birds of various size and differences in length 

 of bill and feet and legs. Bill slender, straight or slightly curved, 

 more or less soft and flexible, in skin somewhat rugose before 

 frontal feathering, generally longer than tarsus. No web or very 

 small one between outer and middle toes. Both mandibles with 



* The discovery of the anonymous article in the " Allgemeine Literatur- 

 Zeitung " necessitates the acceptance of the name Calidris for the genus called 

 Erolia in the Hand-List. — E.H. 



