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BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 153
CROCETHIA ALBA (Pallas)
Tnjnga alba Pallas, in Vroeg, Cat. Rais., 1764, Adumbr., p. 7. (Coast of
North Sea.)
An adult female of the sanderling was taken November 6, 1920,
on the exposed outer beach 24 kilometers south of Cape San Antonio,
Buenos Aires, one of the feAv birds that cared to brave the severe
gale then in progi-ess. On the following day 20 in three flocks
passed in southward migration, flying about a meter above the >and
near the line marked by the wash of the waves. The species was
not recorded again until April 29, 1921, when 25 were seen near
Concon, Chile, in flight northward along the coast.
PISOBIA MELANOTOS (Vieillot)
Tringa melanotos Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 34, 1819, p. 462.
(Paraguay.)
Azara, with his usual meticulous care, described his chorlito lonio
pardo—the basis of Vieillot's THnga melanotos—so minutel}- that
there is no mistaking it for one of the two larger Pisohia, while his
note to the effect that the tarsus was greenish points unmistakably to
the pectoral sandpiper, since, as is well known to observant field
naturalists, Baird's sandpiper, the only other species that may here
be confused, has the tarsus black. The dimensions given by Azara
are also those of the pectoral sandpiper. Sadly enough, Tringa
melanotos on page 462 of Vieillot's work has priority over Tringa
maculata on page 465 and so must supplant it.
The pectoral sandpiper was recorded as fairly common. At Ki-
lometer 80, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, the species arrived
on September 9, 1920, and passed in small numbers until the close
of the month. On September 24 and 25, thirty or more were seen
on muddy areas at the Laguna Wall at Kilometer 200. In crossing
from Conessa to Lavalle, Buenos Aires, October 22, two flocks, con-
taining in the aggregate 20 individuals, were seen near pools on the
grass-grown pampa. Four were noted at the mouth of the Rio Ajo
October 25. At Carhue, Buenos Aires, one was found in company
with lesser yellowlegs December 15. On January 15 I observed four
or five captive in the zoological gardens in Montevideo, Uruguay,
and was informed that they had been captured that season. Near
Lazcano, Uruguay, two were seen at a small lagoon, and on the following
morning I found a flock of 16 resting on mud lumps in a pool
in a road. These latter were evidently tired, as all rested quietly
in the sun, several crouched on their breasts. When flushed the flock
flew on to the westward instead of following down the Rio Cebollati,
as was the custom of other migrating shore birds noted here. At
Guamini, Buenos Aires, a pectoral sandpiper was noted on March 4