Abstract
IN the autumn of 1948 a miniature invasion of American pectoral sandpipers (Calidris melanotos) occurred in Great Britain. Birds were recorded in nine different localities including Scotland, Cornwall and the east and west, Midlands (British Birds, 42, 0. 5V May 1949). It is difficult to state whether the immigration was due to anything unusual in wild or other conditions because of the scattered nature of the occurrences both regarding date and place. The pectoral sandpiper breeds in north-eastern Siberia as well as in arctic America and has been met with, though not positively proved to breed, as far west as the Taimyr Peninsula. The Taimyr is the nearest regular breeding ground of the knot (Calidris canutus), which visits Western Europe in great numbers, and this has raised the question whether some of the pectoral sandpipers visiting the British Isles may not come from Siberia rather than across the Atlantic from America. That some do come from America is suggested by the fact that half of the records from the west of England come from the Scilly Isles ; this conclusion is strongly reinforced by the several occurrences in the west of Ireland and the virtual absence of records from the Continent. The supposition that some of the visitors come from Siberia is supported by the fact that there are about twice as many records for the eastern part of England as for the west.
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American Pectoral Sandpipers in Britain. Nature 164, 561 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/164561a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/164561a0