ACTITURtrg ■ t—
ACTITURUS BARTRAMIUS,
Bartram’s Sandpiper.
Tringa Bartramia, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 63, pi. 59. fig. 2.
Totanus Bartramius, Bonap. Syn. Birds of Unit. States, p. 262—Gould, Birds of Europe, vol. iv. pi. 313—Swains
and Rich. Faun. Bor.-Am., pt. ii. p. 391.
_____ Bartramia, Temm. Man. d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 650, and tom. iv. p. 415.
Tringa longicauda, Bechst. Vog., Nacht. p. 453.
Actitis Bartramia, Naum. Naturg. Deuts., pi. 196.
Actiturus Bartramius, Bonap. Sagg. Distr. Met. An. Vert.—Gould, Handb. Birds of Aust. vol. ii. p. 242.
Bartramia laticauda, Less. Traité d’Om., p. 553.
Euliga Bartramia, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 169.
Totanus variegatus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. ii. p. 107, pi. cccxxxix.
_____ campestris et melanopygius, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., 2e édit. tom. vi. pp. 400, 401.
Tringoides Bartramius, G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 574.
T hat the Directors of the Museum of Sydney are imbued with feelings of liberality and courtesy, I have
had abundant proofs; for whenever Zoological science could be advanced through their instrumentality,
they have ever readily responded to the requests proffered by myself and other naturalists of their father-
land ; and it is to them that I am indebted for the opportunity of figuring the present species in this
supplementary volume to the ‘ Birds of Australia,’ from the only example that has yet been taken in that
country, and which they kindly transmitted to me some years since on loan for that purpose. The note
accompanying it stated that it had been killed by an old sportsman, while snipe-shooting near the reservoir
between the town of Sydney and Botany Bay in 1848, and that on dissection it proved to be a male and
had the stomach filled with aquatic insects. The accompanying figure having been taken, the specimen
referred to was returned to the Museum in 1861; and there it doubtless still exists, affording undeniable
evidence of the wandering disposition of a bird whose natural home is the New World, where it ranges
over the temperate portions of the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, and some of the West-Indian
Islands ; it is also occasionally found in Europe, and even in England. That it should extend its range to the
antipodes is most remarkable.
It will be seen, by the list of synonyms, that this bird has been removed from the true r r in g a and
Totani with which I was originally associated, and that various generic appellations have been applied to
it : of these Bartramia appears to have the priority; but this term not being generally adopted, I have
preferred that of Actiturus, proposed by Bonaparte.
The best accounts of this species are contained in the works of Wilson and Audubon, the latter of whom
states that it is the most truly terrestrial of all its tribe with which he was acquainted; for although not
unfrequently met with in the vicinity of shallow pools, the muddy margins of the shores of the sea and freshwater
lakes and streams, it never ventures to wade into them. The dry upland plains of Opellousas and
Attacapas in Louisiana are amply tenanted with these birds in early spring and g autumn. They arrive there
in the beginning of March from the vast prairies of Texas and Mexico, where they spend the winter, and
return about the first of August. They are equally abundant on all the western prair.es on both sides of
the Missouri, where, however, they arrive about a month later than in Louisiana, whence they disperse over
the United States, reaching the middle districts early in May, and the State of Maine by the middle of that
month at about which period they are also seen in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. That some proceed as
far north as the plains adjoining the Saskatchewan River is certain; for D , Richardson there met wuth
examples in the month of May. In the neighbourhood of New Orleans, where the bird is known by the
name of “ Papabote,” it usually arrives in great bands in spring, and is met w.th on the open plains and
lanre grassy savannas and usually remains about a fortnight. On their return southward m the beginning
of August when they’tarry in Louisana until the 1st of October, they are fat and juicy. In spring, when
they are poor and thin, they are usually much less shy than in autumn, at which period they are exceeding y
wary and difficult of approach. Like all experienced trayellers, Bartram’s Sandpiper appears to accommodate
■tself to circumstances as regards food; for in Louisiana it feeds on Canthandes and other Coleopterous
insects- in Massachusetts on grasshoppers, on which it soon grows yery f a t; in the Carolines on crickets
and other insects as well as the seeds of the crabgrass (Digitaria mnguinarm) ; and in the barrens ot
„ . It often nicks the strawberries. Those which feed on Cantharides require to jie very carefully
cleaned, otherwise persons who eat them are liable to suffer severely; but when their flesh is imbued with
eolouring than those killed in Europe and America,
but is not in my opinion sufficiently different to warrant its being regarded as a distinct species.
The accurate representation of the bird on the opposite Plate, of the natural size, renders a detailed
description of its colouring unnecessary.