THE BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 593 



spots, and usual ashy shellmarks. Average of 100 eggs, 37.3 X 26.5. 

 Max.: 40x28. Mn. : 35.1x26.6 and 37.3x24.8 mm. Breeding- 

 season. — Last fortnight May onward in Fseroes ; from mid -June 

 onward in Spitsbergen. Incubation. — Chiefly by male, but female 

 takes some share. Period not less than 20 days. Single brooded. 

 Food. — Varied ; including insects : coleoptera (Otiorhynchus), 

 diptera (larvae of Chironomus) , also spiders, Thysanura (or Collem- 

 bola), annelida and Crustacea (Amphipoda, Isopoda, Orchestia > 

 Idotea, Gammarus and Podocerus) as well as mollusca (Mytilus? 

 Littorina, Purpura, etc.). Vegetable matter is also eaten, including 

 algae, grasses, moss, buds and leaves of phanerogams and remains of 

 cryptogams. Seeds of Cochlearia have been identified and small 

 fish (Gobius) nearly 1 in. long, as well as ova of lumpsucker. 

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

 (early Aug. to mid-Oct. and mid -March to early June). Widely 

 spread all coasts, especially rocky ones. Thought to have bred 

 Shetlands, but no proof. Exceptional inland. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Inhabits arctic regions of Northern Hemi- 

 sphere, and breeds in Siberia, north Russia, north Scandinavia, 

 Novaya Zemlia, Franz Josef Land, Spitsbergen, Iceland and Faeroes , 

 Greenland and arctic America (Melville Island, Ellesmere Land), 

 being migratory in northernmost regions, resident as far north as 

 Iceland and south Greenland, but wintering as far south as North 

 Sea and Baltic, and even in small numbers to Mediterranean and in 

 America to Great Lakes, Georgia, Florida and Bermudas. Re- 

 placed by other subspecies in Alaska, the Pribilof, Aleutian and 

 Shumagin Islands, also on Commander Islands. 



Genus TRYNGITES Cab. 



Tryngites Cabanis, Journ. f. Orn., 1856, p. 418 (Monotype T. rufescens 

 Vie ill. nee Bechstein ^subruficollis). 



Very near Calidris. Easily recognized by the small black spots 

 on the inner webs of the primaries, which are not found in any 

 other British Waders. Bill much longer than tarsus, straight, 

 hard, not flexible. Sides of tail not emarginated, middle rectrices 

 much longer than rest. $ larger than $. Summer and winter 

 plumages differ very little. Habits differ from species of Calidris, 

 inhabits prairies and dry plains inland. 1 species. 



TRYNGITES SUBRUFICOLLIS 



400. Tryngites subruficollis (Vieill.)— THE BUFF-BREASTED 

 SANDPIPER. 



Trlnga subruficollis Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., nouv. ed., 

 xxxiv, p. 465 (1819 — Paraguay. Ex Azara). 



Tryngites rufescens (Vieillot), Yarrell, in, p. 435 ; Saunders, p. 601. 

 Erolia subruficollis (Vieill.), Hand-List (1912), p. 177. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter. — Crown sepia, 

 feathers edged sandy-buff ; nape sandy-buff spotted sepia ; mantle, 

 vol. n. 2 Q 



