770 
Birds of Celebes: Charadriidae. 
the wing, and by the absence of white on the rump and upper tail-coverts, as 
well as the tail. Small structural differences should not, in our ojainion, be 
made use of for setting up new genera where this can possibly be avoided, but, 
in the present case, if Heteractitis were united with Totanus, Actitis would have 
to follow, and the barrier again between Tringa and Actitis is equally small. 
Dr. Stejneger describes 11 . hrevipes in its habits as follows: “This bird 
makes quite a different impression on the observer from the other totanine 
wanderers, and its habits seem to be rather peculiar, in many respects remind- 
ing one of the Oyster-catcher. It carries its body much in the same manner 
as Actitis hypoleucos, but very seldom flirts its tail up and down like the latter, 
nor has it as much of the peculiar movement of the head and neck as the 
common Sandpiper. It is a much more quiet bird, very often standing immov- 
able for a long while staring down into the water. Its flight is graceful and 
very rapid. Its voice loud and harsh, almost screaming. I only met with it 
among rocks and stones, seldom, if ever, on the sandy or gravelly beaches” (1 ). 
GENUS ACTITIS III. 
Differs from Totanus chiefly by its more delicate bill in w'hich the nasal 
groove is continued into the terminal third almost to the tip, by its short tarsus, 
and by the absence of white on the base of the tail and rump. From Heteractitis 
it is distinguishable by its less pointed wing, the secondaries being more than 
half the wing-length, by its bill, and by the bar of white across the middle of 
the remiges on the inner w^ebs, exposed by the bird when in flight. Two 
species, one American, the other belonging to the Old World; migratory. 
329. ACTITIS') HYPOLEUCOS (L.). 
Common Sandpiper. 
a. Tringa hypoleucos (1) Linn., S. N. 1766, I, 250. 
Actitis hypoleucos (1) Illig., Prodr. 1811, 262; (2) Boie, Isis 1822, 560; (III) Naum., 
Vog. Deutschl. 1836, Ym, 7, t. 194; (4) Sclil., Mus. P.-B., Scolopaces, 1864, 80; 
(5) Walden, Tr. Z. S. 1872, Vm, 96; (6) Hartlaub, Yog. Madag. 1877, 327; 
(7) Rosenb., Malay. Arcliip. 1878, 278; (8) Oust., Bull. Soc. Philom. 1878, 186; 
(9) Milne-Ed. & Orandid., Ois. Madag. 1879, I, 622; (10) Meyer, Ibis 1879, 143, 
146; (11) Rosenb., Zool. Garten 1881, 167; (12) Stejn., Bull. II. S. Nat. Mus. 
1885, Nr, 29, 131; (13) Rams., Tab. List 1888, 20; (14) Wiglesw., Av. Polyn. 
1892, 64; (15) Ribbe, Jb. Yer. Erdk. Dresden 1892, 172; (16) Tacz., Faun. Orn. 
Sib. Orient. 1893, II, 882; (17) M. & Wg., Abb. Mus. Dresd. 1896, Nr. 1, p. 15. 
h. Totanus hypoleucos (1) Temm., Man. d’Orn. 1815, 424; (IT) Dresser, B. Europe Ym, 
127, pi. 563 (1877); (3) Seeb., Brit. B. 1885, m, 117, pi. 30 (eggs); (4) id., Distr. 
1) Dr. Stejneger (Bull. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1885, Nr. 29, 131) shows how, by elimination, hypoleucos had 
become the type of the genus Actitis of Illiger as early as 1816; by the Rules of Nomenclature, therefore, 
Tringoides Bp., 1831, may not displace Actitis. 
