THING OI7JE3 HYPOLEUOUS. 
869 
cannot be expected that they would breed there. It has never come under my notice in J uly ; and during a tour 
I made through the tank- districts in that month I made particular search for it, but without success. As 
many breed in Cashmere, it may be assumed that it is to that region these birds, which are so short a time 
absent from the island, resort for the purpose of nesting. All round the coast, and even about the Colombo 
Lake and on the sea-shore near the town, this Sandpiper is common; and on the salt-lagoons of the west and 
south coasts it is invariably seen. It affects the rivers of this part of the island far inland ; but not so much 
those which traverse the forests in the east and north of the island, although there is no saying where one 
will not meet with a pair in wandering through these jungle-wilds; and as to the shores of the large tanks, they 
are a favourite haunt. In the Central Province it is locally diffused, and at Nuwara Eliya was met with 
by Air. Holdsworth in February. , . . , ' 
In the Laccadive Islands it is very common, as Mr. Hume observed it on all the islands he visited. 
Throughout the Indian empire it is generally distributed ; but Jerdon did not find it so common as the « ood- 
and Green Sandpipers ; he found it usually about the shores of tidal rivers, canals, and on the pebbly ban « 
of rivers. Far inland, in suitable localities, it can scarcely be less plentiful than in the maritime regions. 11 
the Deccan it is said to be common; and Dr. Fair bank records it from Ahmednagar. It is found on all the 
rivers in Chota Nagpur, writes Air. Ball ; and he notes it from the valley of the Godaveri. About Calcutta it 
does not seem to be so common as its above-mentioned allies; and from Furreedpore it is not recorded. 
Captain Beavan found it less plentiful in Lower Bengal than the Green Sandpiper. In Guzerat, writes 
Captain Butler, it occurs round the edges of most of the tanks between Deesa and Ahmedabad ; and his dates of 
its arrival and departure are the 4th of August and the 20th of May. In Sindh Mr. Hume occasionally met 
with it, and about Karachi and Hyderabad it is not uncommon. In the Sambhur-Lake district it is rare. 
Further north in Cashmere it is common in the breeding-season, and all along the base of the Himalayas it is 
to be met with. Air. Brooks records it from Derali in the valley of the Bhagarati. 
In Pegu it is said to be common ; and Mr. Oates has met with it there in August. In the Irrawaddy 
delta it is not abundant {Armstrong) ; but in Tcnasserim it is common everywhere, both inland and on the 
coast. It is abundant in the Andamans, not departing, according to Air. Davison, before the middle of Alay, 
and returning again during the latter half of August. Air. Hume’s remark on it would well apply to Ceylon ; 
he savs “ From Preparis to Galatea Bay the Common Sandpiper was the one bird that, wander where one 
might alon- the coast, it was impossible to avoid seeing.” In the Alalay peninsula it is recorded from Kopah, 
Alalacca and Chopong; and at Singapore it is not uncommon ; it has also been procured in the Nicobar 
Islands It inhabits the entire eastern coast of the continent, summering in Japan between the months of 
April and August, and affecting all the rivers there, residing likewise in China throughout the year, inhabiting 
the islands of Hainan and Formosa, and extending eastwards to the Philippines, throughout which group it 
is evidently diffused, for recently the islands of Cebu, Luzon, Mindanao, and Camiguin have been added to its 
habitat by various naturalists. Further east still it has been obtained by Dr. Finscli at the Pelew Islands. 
It is spread entirely throughout the Alalay archipelago, and, as time goes on, will probably be recorded from 
every island in that vast group. At present it is recorded from Sumatra (where Air. Everett likewise recently 
procured it), Java, and Bangka; likewise from many parts of Borneo (where it was obtained in Sarawak in 
August) and from Labuan ; also from Flores, Ceram, Timor, Amboina, and Celebes. In the latter island 
Dr. Aleyer procured it recently at Limbotto in July, and in the adjacent Tongian Islands in August, from 
which it is to be inferred that immature birds remain there occasionally throughout the year. It has further 
been obtained in Ilalmahera, Morotai, Batchian, Waigiou, and New Guinea; from the latter island it 
has been recorded by several naturalists ; and recently Air. L. Stone met with it at Port Moresby. It is 
spread throughout the entire coast-line (as far as it has been explored) of the vast island-continent of 
Australia, extending to Tasmania. It has not been met with, according to Air. Ramsay, anywhere in the 
“m i n dia northwards it wanders in the summer up to the Arctic circle, spreading eastwards to Kamt- 
chatka and westward to the northern limits of Europe. Between Kashmir and Yarkand, Dr. Henderson 
procured it on the Sujet Pass at an altitude of 17,000 feet; and Dr. Scully saw it on the banks of the 
Karakash Sanju, and Arpalak rivers ; but neither he nor Dr. Henderson met with it on the plains of Kasgharia. 
Severtzoff says that it breeds throughout Turkestan. According to Prjevalsky, it breeds on the rivers of 
