586 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Characters. — No subspecies. Distinguished in all plumages by- 

 dark (not white) back, rump and upper tail-coverts and wedge- 

 shaped tail. 



Breeding-habits. — Haunts grassy flats near sea and tundra but 

 no definite information as to breeding-habits. 



Food. — Only food recorded appears to be Gammaridse picked up 

 on shore. 



Distribution. — England. — One or two. Breydon (Norfolk) Aug, 

 29, 1892 (Seebohm, Ibis, 1893, p. 181). [One said taken near Yar- 

 mouth, Sept., 1848 {I.e. ; cf. Gurney, Zool, 1849, pp. 2392 and 



2568).] 



Distribution. — Abroad. — North-east Siberia, Tchuktchi Peninsula 

 to Lena. Passes through Kamtchatka and Commander Is. and 

 Japan and China. Winters in Pacific Islands and Australia (rare 

 New Zealand) to Sunda Islands, once India. Also occurring Alaska 

 (? breeding), Pribilof Is., Unalaska, Queen Charlotte Is. 



CALIDRIS BAIRDII 



397- Calidris bairdii (Coues)— BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. 



Actodromas Bairdii Coues, Proc. Acad. Sci. Philad., 1861, p. 194 (Great 

 Slave Lake, Canada). 



Heteropygia bairdi (Coues), E. Hartert, Bull. B.O.C., xi, p. 27 ; Tringa 

 bairdi, Saunders, Brit. B., I, p. 15. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter. — Crown streaked 

 dark sepia, feathers edged ash -brown and light buff ; nape same 

 but streaks narrower ; mantle and scapulars 

 ash-brown, feathers with sepia centres or 

 shaft -streaks and many edged pink-buff ; 

 back, rump and upper tail-coverts sepia 

 edged sandy-buff ; lateral tail-coverts white 

 suffused pink-buff and marked ash -brown ; 

 eye-stripe white ; ear-coverts, cheeks and 

 sides of neck buff, narrowly streaked sepia ; 

 chin and throat white ; breast buff, many 

 feathers with sepia shaft -streaks giving 

 streaked appearance, most pronounced on 

 sides ; remaining under -parts white ; under 

 tail-coverts with sepia shaft-streaks ; tail- 

 feathers ash-brown faintly edged white, 

 central pair dark sepia edged ash-brown or 

 Baird's sandpiper {Calidris wMte '> primaries sepia, paler on inner webs, 

 bairdu) to show dark upper 6th and succeeding with narrow white border 

 near base of outer web, shaft of 2nd white, 

 of remainder brownish -white ; secondaries sepia (paler on inner 

 webs), tipped white, innermost sepia edged sandy ; primary- 

 coverts sepia or black-brown, narrowly edged white ; greater 

 coverts ash-brown broadly edged white or light buff ; median and 



