THE COMMON SANDPIPER. 
399 
Genus TRINGOIDES, Bonap. 
740. TRINGOiDES HYPOLEUCUS. 
THE COMMON SANDPIPER. 
Tringa hypoleucos, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 250. Actitis hypoleucus, Je^-d. B. hid. 
ii. p. 699; Bl. B. Burm. p. 155 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 681. Tringoides 
hypoleucus, Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 588 ; id. S. F. ii. p. 299, iii. p. 183 ; 
Salvad. Ucc, Born. p. 326 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 344 ; David et Oust. Ois. 
Chine, p. 467 ; Hume 8f Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 463 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 113 ; Begge, 
Birds Ceijlon,^. 867; Oates, 8. F. x. p. 241. Totanus hypoleucus, Dresser, 
Birds Eur. viii. p. 127, pi. ; Bingham, 8. F. ix. p. 197. 
Description, — Male and female. Greneral colour of the upper plumage 
ashy brown glossed with green ; the crown_, hind neck and upper back 
streaked with dark brown ; the wing-coverts^ lower back^ rump^ upper tail- 
coverts, scapulars and tertiaries with wavy cross bands of brown and dark 
shaft-streaks^ the feathers of the coverts more or less narrowly margined 
with grey; primaries dark brown, with a patch of white on the inner 
webs ; secondaries white at the base and at the tip, brown elsewhere ; cen- 
tral tail-feathers like the back, the others tipped with white, the outermost 
pair broadly barred with white, the outer web nearly all w hite ; a broad 
but indistinct pale supercilium from the bill to the nape ; chin and throat 
pure white ; the breast and the sides of the head and neck white streaked 
with brown ; remainder of the lower plumage pure white. 
There is little or no seasonal change of plumage. In summer the upper 
parts are darker and more glossy, and the breast and sides of the neck are 
more marked with brown. 
Bill greyish brown, darker at tip and with a greenish tinge at base ; iris 
brown ; legs pale green ; claws horn-colour. 
Length 8 inches, tail 2*3, wing 4*2, tarsus 1, bill from gape 1*1. The 
female is of the same size. 
The Common Sandpiper is found abundantly over the whole Province 
from August to April or May. 
It is found throughout the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia, ex- 
tending through the archipelago to Australia and some of the islands of 
the Pacific Ocean. It does not retire far north to breed, many of these 
birds remaining in temperate climates throughout the summer. 
This bird is the most abundant of all the smaller Waders, frequenting 
the banks of rivers, marshes, lakes and pools of water. It has been found 
breeding in Cashmeer in May and June. 
