Actitis hypoleucos Linnaeus
Common Sandpiper
Tringa Hypoleucos Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1858, p. 149 (Europe, restricted type locality, Sweden.)
Totanus hypoleucos Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 552 (Marianas).
Totanus (Tringoides) hypoleucus Gray, Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 51 (Marianas).
Actitis hypoleuca Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 8 (Pelew).
Actitis hypoleucus Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 118 (Pelew); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 106 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 36 (Pelew); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 299, 353 (Ruk, Mortlock); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 64 (Luganor, Marianne, Pelew); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris (3), 8, 1896, p. 43 (Guam, Palaos, Luganor).
Tringoides hypoleucos Gray, Hand-list Birds, 3, 1871, p. 46 (Pelew, Ladrone); Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 318 (Pelew).
Tringoides hypoleucus Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 24, 1896, p. 456 (Micronesia); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, pp. 51, 62 (Pelews, Marianas).
Totanus hypoleucus Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 65 (Saipan); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 34 (Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 70 (Mariannes); idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 268 (Guam).
Actitis hypoleucos Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 8, 1919, p. 372 (Micronesia); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 47 (Marianas, Carolines, Pelews); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 2, 1934, p. 269 (Micronesia); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 1, 1936, p. 24 (Guam); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 42 (Micronesia); Strophlet, Auk, 1946, p. 537 (Guam); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 52 (Guam, Peleliu, Ulithi).
Tringa hypoleucos Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 191 (Marianas, Carolines, Pelews); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed. 1942, p. 214 (Saipan, Babelthuap, Koror, Peleliu, Angaur, Ulithi, Truk).
Geographic range.—Breeds in Europe and Asia. Winters from Africa east to Polynesia. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Guam, Saipan; Palau Islands—Angaur, Peleliu, Koror, Babelthuap; Caroline Islands—Ulithi, Truk, Lukunor.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 12 (4 males, 7 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Guam, 4 (July 16, Sept. 20); AMNH—Saipan, 1 (July 27); Palau Islands, USNM—Peleliu, 3 (Sept. 9, 14).—Koror, 1 (Nov. 7); AMNH—exact locality not given, 2 (Nov. 11, 19); Caroline Islands, USNM—Ulithi, 1 (Aug. 22).
Weights.—The present author (1948:52) recorded the weight of one male taken at Guam as 67 grams, and of two females as 57 and 63 grams. These were fall migrants taken by the NAMRU2 party.
Remarks.—The Common Sandpiper has been known from Micronesia since the time of Lesson. Tetens, Peters and Kubary obtained specimens in the Palaus; the latter collector obtained the bird at Lukunor and probably also at Truk. In recent years several collectors have taken the birds in western Micronesia, where the species appears to be a regular visitor. Field observations by the NAMRU2 party indicate that the birds are usually found as singles and remain apart from other species of migratory shorebirds which visit the islands. The margins of inland ponds and beaches consisting of rocks and pebbles appear to be preferred over the sandy, tidal flats. At Peleliu on September 9, 1945, two birds were taken at a bare bank of coral at an inland pond. These were the only two Common Sandpipers seen at the island. A specimen taken by the NAMRU2 party at Ulithi on August 22 at a beach, piled with debris from ships, has its entire and underparts stained by fuel oil.