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SANDPIPER (Ger. Sandpfeifer)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 141 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SANDPIPER (Ger. Sandpfeifer) , the name applied to nearly all the smaller kinds of the See also:group Limicolae which are not Plovers (q.v.) or Snipes (q.v.), but may be said to be intermediate between them. According to F. See also:Willughby in 1676 it was the name given by Yorkshiremen to the See also:bird popularly known in See also:England as the " Summer-See also:Snipe,"—the Tringa hypoleucos of See also:Linnaeus and the Totanus hypoleucos of later writers, but probably even in Willughby's See also:time the name was of much wider signification. Placed by most systematists in the See also:family Scolopacidae, the birds commonly called Sandpipers seem to See also:form three sections, which have been often regarded as Subfamilies—Totaninae, Tringinae and Phalaropodinae, the last indeed in•some classifications taking the higher See also:rank of a Family—Phalaropodidae. This See also:section comprehends three See also:species only, known as Phalaropes or See also:swimming sandpipers, which are distinguished by the membranes that fringe their toes, in two of the species forming marginal lobes,' and by the See also:character of their See also:lower plumage, which is as See also:close as that of a See also:duck. The most obvious distinctions between Totaninae and Tringinae may be said to See also:lie in the acute or See also:blunt form of the tip of the See also:bill (with which is associated a less or greater development of the sensitive nerves See also:running almost if not quite to its extremity, and therefore greatly influencing the mode of feeding) and in the See also:style of plumage—the Tringinae, with blunt and flexible bills, mostly assuming a summer-See also:dress in which some tint of See also:chestnut or reddish-See also:brown ' These are Phalaropus fulicarius and P. (or Lobipes) hyperboreus, and were thought by some of the older writers to be allied to the Coots (q.v.). The third species is P. (or Steganopus) wilsoni. All are natives of the higher parts of the N. hemisphere, and the last is especially See also:American, though perhaps a straggler to See also:Europe. is prevalent, while the Totaninae, with acute and stiffer bills, display no such lively See also:colours.

Furthermore, the Tringinae, except when breeding, frequent the See also:

sea-See also:shore much more than do the Totaninae.s To the latter belong the See also:Greenshank (q.v.) and See also:Redshank (q.v.), as well as the See also:Common Sandpiper, the " Summer-Snipe " above-mentioned, a bird hardly exceeding a skylark in See also:size, and of very See also:general See also:distribution throughout the See also:British Islands, but chiefly frequenting clear streams, especially those with a gravelly or rocky bottom, and most generally breeding on the beds of See also:sand or See also:shingle on their See also:banks. It usually makes its See also:appearance in May. The See also:nest, in which four eggs are laid with their pointed ends See also:meeting in its centre (as is usual among Limicoline birds), is seldom far from the See also:water's edge, and the eggs, as well as the newly-hatched and down-covered See also:young, closely resemble the surrounding pebbles. The Common Sandpiper is found over the greater See also:part of the Old See also:World. In summer it is the most abundant bird of its See also:kind in the extreme N. of Europe, and it extends across See also:Asia to See also:Japan. In See also:winter it makes its way to See also:India, See also:Australia and the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope. In See also:America its See also:place is taken by a closely kindred species, which is said to have also occurred in England—T. macularius, the " Peetweet," or Spotted Sandpiper, so called from its usual cry, or from the almost circular marks which spot its lower plumage. In habits it is very similar to its congener of the Old World, and in winter it migrates to the See also:Antilles and to Central and See also:South America. Of other Totaninae,one of the most remarkable is that to which the inappropriate name of See also:Green Sandpiper has been assigned, the Totanus or Helodsomas ochro pus of ornithologists, which differs (so far as is known) from all others of the group both in its osteology2 and mode of See also:nidification, the See also:hen laying her eggs in the deserted nests of other birds,—Jays, Thrushes or Pigeons,—but nearly always at some height (from 3 to 30 ft.) from the ground (Prot. Zool. Society, 1863, pp. 529-532).

This species occurs in England the whole See also:

year See also:round, and is presumed to have bred there, though the fact has never been satisfactorily proved, and knowledge of its erratic habits comes from naturalists in See also:Pomerania and See also:Sweden. This sandpiper is characterized by its dark upper plumage, which contrasts strongly with the See also:white of the lower part of the back and gives the bird as it flies much the look of a very large See also:house-See also:martin. The so-called See also:wood-sandpiper, T. glareola, which, though much less common, is known to have bred in England, has a considerable resemblance to the species last mentioned, but can be distinguished by the feathers of the axillary plume being white barred with greyish-See also:black, while in the green sandpiper they are greyish-black barred with white. It is an abundant bird in most parts of See also:northern Europe, migrating in winter very far to the southward. Of the section Tringinae the best known are the See also:Knot (q.v.) and the Dunlin, T. alpina. The latter, often also called Ox-bird, See also:Plover's See also:Page, Puree and Stint,—names which it shares with some other species,—not only breeds commonly on many of the elevated See also:moors of See also:Britain, but in autumn resorts in countless flocks to the shores. In winter of a nearly See also:uniform ash-See also:grey above and white beneath, in summer the feathers of the back are black, with deep See also:rust-coloured edges, and a broad black See also:belt occupies the See also:breast. The Dunlin varies considerably in size, examples from N. America being almost always recognizable from their greater bulk, while in Europe tJiere appears to be a smaller See also:race which has received the name of T. schinzi. In the breeding-See also:season the male Dunlin utters a most See also:peculiar and far-See also:sounding See also:whistle, somewhat resembling the continued ringing of a high-toned musical See also:bell. Next to the Dunlin and Knot the commonest British Tringinae are the Sanderling, Calidris arenaria (distinguished from every other bird of the group by wanting a See also:hind toe), the See also:Purple Sandpiper, T. striata or maritime, the See also:Curlew-Sandpiper, T. subarquata and the Little and Temminck's Stints, T. minuta and T. temmincki. T. minutilla, the American stint, is darker, with See also:olive feet, and ranges from the See also:Arctic New World to See also:Brazil.

T. fuscicollis, See also:

Bonaparte's sandpiper, with white upper tail-coverts inhabits Arctic America, but reaches the greater part of South America in winter, whilst T. bairdi, with brownish median tail-coverts, extends over nearly all See also:North America, breeding towards the north. 1 There are no See also:English words adequate to See also:express these two sections. By some British writers the Tringinae have been indicated as " Stints," a See also:term cognate with Stunt and wholly inapplicable to many of them, while American writers have restricted to them the name of " Sandpiper," and See also:call the Totaninae, to which that name is especially appropriate, " Willets." 2 It possesses only a single pair of posterior " emarginations " on its sternum, in this respect resembling the See also:Ruff (q.v.). Among the Plovers and Snipes other similarly exceptional cases may be found. The broad-billed sandpiper, T. platyrhyncha, of the Old World, seems to be more snipe-like than any that are usually assigned to this section. The See also:spoon-billed sandpiper, Eurinorhynchus pygmaeus, breeds in north-eastern Asia and N.W. America, and ranges to See also:China and See also:Burma in winter. (A.

End of Article: SANDPIPER (Ger. Sandpfeifer)

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