(PECTORAL SANDPIPER.)
+Tringa maculata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 145; _iid. P. Z. S._
1873, p. 455; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 43 (Chupat), et 1878,
p. 68 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 314 (Entrerios);
_Saunders, Yarrell's Birds_, iii. p. 368. +Actodromas maculata+,
_Baird, Brew., et Ridgw. Water-B. N. A._ i. p. 232. +Tringa
acuminata pectoralis+, _Seebohm, Plovers_, p. 443.
_Description._--Above brown, varied with black; superciliaries
whitish; rump and middle upper tail-coverts blackish, lateral upper
tail-coverts white: beneath white; neck and breast pale greyish
streaked with blackish: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 5·1, tail 2·4,
bill 1·1. _Female_ similar.
[Illustration: Tail-feathers of PECTORAL SANDPIPER. (Seebohm's
'Plovers,' p. 443.)]
_Hab._ Arctic America, migrating south to Patagonia in winter.
The Pectoral Sandpiper is a well-known North-American species that
visits the south during migration. It breeds abundantly in Alaska,
and descends in winter through Central and South America to Chili and
Patagonia. Durnford found it abundant about the salt-lagoons of Chupat.
Near the end of August it begins to arrive in La Plata, usually in very
small flocks or singly; and among these first-comers there are some
young birds so immature and weak in appearance that one can scarcely
credit the fact that so soon after being hatched they have actually
performed the stupendous journey from the northern extremity of the
North-American continent to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas.
This species differs from other Sandpipers in being much more solitary
and sedentary in its ways, feeding for hours in one spot, and in
its Snipe-like habit of sitting close when approached and remaining
motionless watching the intruder; also in its language, its low, soft,
tremulous cry when flying being utterly unlike the sharp and clicking
sounds emitted by other species. During the hot months, when water
begins to fail, they occasionally congregate in flocks, sometimes as
many as two or three hundred individuals being seen together; but at all
times it is more usual to see them in very small flocks or singly.