Am example'?» tlie Museum at Belfast, there is -reason
to believe, was killed in Ireland. In Octobers 1846, two
adults, male and female, were procured in Hayle estuary,
about seven miles from Penzance, and were recorded by the
late E. H. Bodd, in whose collection they are preserved
(Zool. p. 1654). In the second week of October, 1854,
the same naturalist chronicled (Zool. p. 4512)" an example
obtained at Trescoe in the Soilly Islands; and in the second
week of October, 1870, be obtained another shot in the same
locality. On the 29th of the same month Mr.-Yiugoa, of
Penzance, showed him another which had just been shot at
the Lizard; and it would appear that a small flock must
have arrived on our shores about that time, for in the '.first
week of that same November four individuals, iwo ef which
are now in the collection of Mr. Cecil Smith, and? one; in
that of the Eev. Murray *A. Mathew, were shot- at Instow,
North Devon; another being obtained; ,o_n/fhe 12th of~the
month at Eastbourne, Sussex’ (Zool. s.S;, p. 2442® In the
latter county one h%cL already been recorded p. -6537),
shot near Bexhill, on 8th October, 185% .and is now m/jrhe
collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney! ' Mr.- H. E. Dresser possesses
a mounted specimen, stated on the label atOfjhe - back of its
ease to have been shot, at Kingsburyr.Eeservoir,'-
^ 1856/ by Mr, Goedair. , There are probably somer-unrecorded
British-killed examples, and owing^to .the similarity
of this . species «In its .winter-dressj/to -the Dunlin at, the
same -season, it has no doubt often -espape,d~ recognition, Its
occurrence on thetfContinentgpfhEUrepe*" d;§#s-inot yBb
appear to have’been authenticated&,fo$g as already stated-,, the
T^S£h$nzioj&Brehm and of other, ornithologists is merely®
ya,^ety of the Dunlin.. |
In Greenland, Bonaparte’s 'Sandpiper—was- believed by
Holboll'(ab{Mrain^*1f6"fDr. Paulsen)pp> breed near Julians1-
haab,?where email flocks of both xohhg ,and old birds have
been observed in August.;, and a r very young---bird was obtained
! at Nenortalik in 1835®| muy, eba-nging- ItB5 winter-
plupaage in 1840 ; and three in;1841.*/ I^crQ can be little
* Newton, Manual Arctic Ex-ped. 'pPt-62' (-tSyS)';
doubt that its breeding-grounds are in the northern portions
of the American continent, and eggs purporting to belong
to this species have been sent from Labrador and Hudson’s
Bay, but as yet no authenticated specimens are known "to-
the Editor.* Bichard son met with Bonaparte’s Sandpiper bn
the' Saskatchewan, and -on -the 22nd May DrrElfiott Cones -
found it: migrating northward in flocks on the Bepublican
Fork of the Kansas Biver; so • that it probably ranges • over
the intermediate ground. He describes it as a very abundant
bird along the whole Atlantis©’coabir- from Labrador inJjUuly,
August, and September, to the majority of the States as
far as-'Elorida, hut it does not appear to visit Alaska, or
even to pass west-of the_ Boeky’Mountains. It pushes; its'
migrations southwards to the West Indies,* CentaM America/
an(b Colombia, Brazil, the Eiver- Plate • States/the Falkland
Islands, and the Straits-of Magellan; and on the Pacific
side it has been.obtained in Chili and Pertf.”'
®^<3®ue**ays thatihe frequently observed
this feptecrea .on rocky shorescovered 'with - seaweed/ and
naloist with the falling spray; and that of all Sandpipers
It' is the most -gentle and -confiding;: When startled/ they
emit a soft, low ,we-&t,Aliferent from the note of any .other'.
Sandpiper, and fly fllr ib. a very compact flock.-j- They -fly ■
rapidly, in a jvery unsteady manner, alternately showing the
■upper and under pagt; and they may always/!^recognized,
in flight, by the conspicuously w hi te'^ upper tail-aoyerts.
They usually associate with the Sefnipalmated Sandpipers
and the Bing-ploversfVand, in ' common j i tb other small
- ^^cies, are known by- the generalname of f peeps.’
The Author was indebted to the kindness Audubon
for the specimen of“ this Sandpiper, from which tlie-drawing
at the head of this subje|||and the following ’description
were-=: taken. The bird Is - have been killed in
‘i * The late Surgeon Anderson, jof^H.M.S. ‘ Enterprif^/ -when at Winter CoTe,
Prince Albert T.an 6/ i n - obtainedj-aepfed "feir^ds and two eggs, which he
brought to. England f/SboL^l’Sf-P, * L. Kijmlien (-Bull, XL A/N;. Mus.
■ifo’.'l.), p 86) saysthat-this species breeds eg, the shores of Cumberland Sound.
f Mr. R-pdd says of the Cornish birds that th | note was remarked to be„
shorter and-sharper than that of the Dunlpj.