PELIDNA BONAPARTE!. 
Bonaparte’s Sandpiper. 
Tringa cinclus, var., Say, in Long’s Exped. to Rocky Mount., vol. i. p. 172. 
Schinzii, Bonap. Syn. of Birds of Uxiit. States. 
Bonapartei, Schleg. Rev. Grit, des Ois. d’Eur., p. 89. 
melanohis, Bias. List of Birds of Eur., p. 19 ? 
Pelidna Schinzii, Bonap. Geogr. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 50. 
Actodromas bonapartei, Cones, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1801, p. 232. 
As there appears to be some confusion respecting the synonymy and identification of the specimens of this 
bird which have occurred in Europe, I have availed myself of Mr. Harting’s valuable assistance in the 
matter; I say valuable, because for some time past he has paid great attention to the Sandpipers, with 
a view, I believe, of publishing a Monograph of the family ; the synonyms above given may therefore be 
depended upon. 
Bonaparte’s Sandpiper, respecting which we know but little in this country, has occurred sufficiently often 
to demand a place in the present work, as it has done in many others from the appearance of my ‘ Birds of 
Europe’ to the latest publication on our native birds. “At least nine instances,” says Mr. Harting, in a letter to 
me, “ have been recorded of its occurrence in England, besides one in Ireland, supposed by Thompson to have 
been killed in that country ; and he, in his work on the birds of Ireland, gives us the following ‘ circumstantial 
evidence’ on that subject: — ‘There is a specimen of T. Schinzii in the Belfast Museum, respecting w'hich 
positive information cannot now be obtained ; but it is supposed to have been shot in the bay here, in conse- 
quence of its having been preserved in a manner peculiar to a taxidermist who set up a fresh “ Sandpiper ” 
(as it is called in his book) for the collection on the 15th of April 1836 ; all circumstances considered, that 
Sandpiper is believed to have been the one in question ; no Tringa was mounted by the same person from 
dried skins. I have compared the specimen with the American one described and figured by Mr. Yarrell, 
and found identity in the species.’ ” Mr. Rodd, in his ‘ List of British Birds as a Guide to the Ornithology 
of Cornwall,’ says ; — “ Two specimens of Schinz’s Tringa were killed on Hayle estuary in October 1846, by 
Mr.Vingoe.” It is an extremely rare British bird ; and Mr. Yarrell refers to one only having been killed, and 
that in Shropshire. It is very nearly allied to the Dunlin ; but its white rump and shorter bill, and the absence 
of any black patch on the breast in summer, are distinguishing characters. The following is Mr. Harting’s 
account of the occurrences of this bird in Britain as published in his ‘ Handbook,’ p. 142 : — “ One, Stoke 
Heath, Shropshire : Eyton, Fauna of Shropshire, Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 53 ; Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, 
vol. iii. p. 79. One, Ireland; in Belfast Museum: Yarrell, op. cit. A pair, Hayle, Cornwall, 13th Oct. 
1846: Rodd, Zoologist, 1846, p. 1554: in the collection of Mr. Rodd. One, Scilly, Oct. 1854: Rodd, 
Zoologist, 1854, p. 4512. One, Kingsbury, Middlesex, 1856: Harting, Birds of Middlesex, p. 273: in 
the collection of Mr. H. E. Dresser. One, near Bexhill, Sussex, 8th October, 1857: Kent, Zoologist, 1859, 
p. 6537: in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney. Two, Scilly, Oct. 1870: Rodd, Zoologist, 1870, 
pp. 2384, 2409. Four, Instow, North Devon, Nov. 1870 : C. Smith, Zoologist, 1870 ; Mathew, Zoologist, 
1871, p. 2441: in the collections of Mr. Cecil Smith and the Rev. M. A. Mathew. One, Eastbourne, 
Sussex, 12th Nov. 1870 : Bates, Zoologist, 1871, p. 2442: in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney.” The 
above occurrences, continues Mr. Harting, refer to “ the Schinz’s Sandpiper of Eyton, Yarrell, and other 
English naturalists — Tringa Schinzii of Bonaparte, Amer. Orn. iv. p. 69, pi. 24, 1832, but not of Brehm, 
Beitrage, p. 355, 1822, nor of Naumann’s Vog. Deutschl. vii. p. 453, pi. 187, 1834, whose T. Schinzii is 
only a small variety of the Dunlin.” This gentleman further remarks, “ According to Prof. Baird, the range 
of this bird in America is restricted to the countries east of the Rocky Mountains ; but it may prove to have 
a wider range than this ; for I have in my collection a specimen which was procured on the boundary-line 
fixed by Professor Baird (namely, at Republican Fork, Rocky Mountains), on the 25th May, 1864, at which 
time of year these birds are travelling on their spring migration. This species is not confined to North 
America, but passes right through the southern continent to the Falkland Isles ; I have specimens from Peru, 
Chili, and the Falklands ; but I am not sure if the bird is as widely distributed on the eastern side of South 
America as it is on the west. 
“ Although,” says Audubon, in his ‘ Ornithological Biography,’ p. 529, “ I have met with this species 
at different times in Kentucky, and, along our extensive shores, from the Floridas to Maine, as well as on 
the coast of Labrador, I never found it breeding. Indeed I have not met with it in the United States, 
