252 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
throw themselves on the ground with their breasts touching it, in 
the position of a brooding hen, or pigeon on eggs. Idas this habit 
anything to do with its trivial name of Pectoral Sandpiper ? ” 
The difference in size between the sexes in this bird is frequently 
considerable (vide Sharpe, Cat. birds Brit, mus., vol. 24, p. 562, 
1896), the female averaging about three quarters of an inch less 
than the male in length, while in the large series collected by Mr. 
John Murdoch at Point Barrow, Alaska (vide Lieut. Pay’s Report 
of the expedition, p. Ill, 1885), “the smallest female’was fully an 
inch and a half shorter than the longest male.” JTom this it would 
appear that the females take precedence over the males in the 
migrations, and not the young over the adults. It has been noticed 
in New England (vide Auk, vol. 16, p. 179, 1899) that the smaller 
birds are the first to arrive in any given locality, while the larger 
ones appear a week or so after. 
The doctoral Sandpiper is abundant on Grenada and the Grena¬ 
dines during the migrations, and is fairly common on St. Vincent. 
Actodromas fuscicollis (Vieill.). Gray Nit; White-rumped 
Sandpiper. — Col. Feilden says: “Arrives in July and continues 
on the island (Barbados) till the end of November, receiving addi¬ 
tions to its numbers. It Hies in company with E. pusillus and A. 
minutilla , and I have brought all three down at one shot.” 
There is a specimen in the British museum from St. Vincent, ob¬ 
tained by Mr. G. Whitfield Smith, but otherwise it has not been 
obtained in these islands, except at Barbados, although it is probably 
a rather common migrant. 
Actodromas minutilla (Vieill.). Cockroach Nit; Least 
Sandpiper. — Common on Barbados from the middle of July till 
the end of October. It occurs on all the other islands, but not in 
such numbers as at Barbados. 
Erolia ferruginea (Briinn.). Curlew Sandpiper. — Wells 
says that small numbers of the Curlew Sandpiper arrive in Carriacou 
in September and October. He also records it from Grenada. 
Ereunetes pusillus (Linn.). Grass Nit; Semipalmated 
Sandpiper. — Everywhere abundant in these islands, arriving 
about the middle of July and remaining till November. 
Calidris arenaria (Linn.). Sandy Snipe; Sanderling.— 
Occurs throughout these islands, frequenting the beaches in little 
companies; arrives in August, but is never very abundant. 
