the body are brown, and the under white, the neck is surrounded by a ring of white,
below which is a similar band of black feathers.
Charadrius Hiaticvla. Large Ringed Plover.
Ringed Plovers are abundant in all parts of North America, extending also to
Greenland and the lands contiguous to Lancaster Sound. In Europe, they are
equally common. We have here to notice a circumstance of rare occurrence;
Wilson’s figure is very defective, and does not accord with his description. M.
Temminck has taken much pains to describe and separate the different species of
Charadrius, which may be generally termed Ringed Plovers, to the first of which the
specimens now received belong. They are subject to considerable variation in
minute particulars, as respects the size and intensity of the dark bands on their
heads and necks, as well as the proportions of white on the feathers of the tail.
Latham’s description of this species, in his Synopsis, is particularly clear and correct.
The specimens received, though agreeing with the accounts referred to, are smaller.
Vanellus Mdanogaster. Grey Plover.
The specimen of this species is in the varied state which the mature birds exhibit,
in the progress of change from the winter dress to that of the breeding season:
the breast is mottled with black and white; it ultimately becomes black, and in
winter, white. The Grey Plover breeds inland, but resorts, at other times, to
estuaries and mouths of great rivers. It is figured by Wilson, and his representation
and description are both correct; but he he has applied to it the names we have
before mentioned as belonging to the Golden Plover in its summer plumage, viz.,
that of Charadrius Apricarius, or Alwagrim Plover. This species, like many others
which have different plumage at different seasons has received various names:
it has been called, in its winter state, Tringa Squatarola, or Grey Sand-piper, and
in its summer dress, Tringa Helvetica, or Swiss Sand-piper: as the first, it is well
known on the south-eastern coast of Great Britain. M. Temminck has proposed the
transfer of this bird, and its congener, the Lapwing, to the genus where it is now
placed, which was formerly established by Brisson.
Strepsilas Collaris. Turnstone.
A specimen, obtained in the neighbourhood of York Factory, was received. It is
in a state of change approaching maturity, having some of the deep orange-red
feathers, which indicate a bird in perfect plumage, mixed with brown feathers on the
back. Turnstones are found in various and remote parts of the world; they were
observed to breed at Melville Island, and are met with in all parts of North and South
America, as well as in Europe, and are also said to be natives of Africa.
Grus Canadensis. Brown Crane.
The Cranes have been separated from Ardea by modern writers, and now constitute
the genus Grus: hence the name at the head of this article. It may be
supposed that the Brown Crane is rare in the United States, for Wilson does not
seem to have seen it, and he conjectures, under the head of the Hooping Crane,
that it is the young of that bird; there are, however, abundant points, independent
of the colour of the plumage, to convince those who compare them, of the difference.
Hearne says, that the Brown Crane is much more numerous in Hudson’s
Bay than the Hooping Crane, and that its flesh is considered good for eating: it
frequents the lakes of the northern parts of America, breeding] there, and retires in
the winter southward, probably to Mexico and the warmer countries west of the
Mississippi. This bird was originally published by Edwards; his figure of it is,
however, much too splendid. Linnaaus founded the species on Edwards’s description.
The specimen sent home is probably of a male, its size exceeding
that which is mentioned by authors: it is upwards of four feet in length, which is
nearly a foot longer than the measure assigned by Pennant. The top of the head is
bare, with a few black hairs on it: the bill, to the junction of the mandibles, five
inches long; back of the head ash-coloured, tinged with rusty; the whole of the
plumage of the body is dark ash colour; the primary quill feathers are dark brown
with white shafts, and the other feathers of the wings are lighter than the rest of the
plumage; the legs are bare for four inches above the knee.
Ardea Lentiginosa. American Bittern.
The history of this bird is very singular ; it was first described by Edwards, who,
though he stated some difference, especially that of size, between it and the Common
Bittern, Ardea Stellaris, left it unsettled whether it should be considered as a distinct
species or not. Linnaeus did not notice it, nor did he refer to Edwards, and every
subsequent writer until the year 1813, included it as a variety of the European
species. In that year appeared' the Supplement to the Ornithological Dictionary
of the late Colonel Montagu, in which is described and figured, a specimen of a young
bird of this species, as a British bird, under the name of Ardea Lentiginosa. Montagu’s
account is, that the bird was shot in the autumn of 1814, at Piddleton, in Dorsetshire,
by Mr. Cunningham, who sent it fresh to Colonel George, of Penryn, in Cornwall,
in whose museum it was called Ardea Minuta, and under that name purchased by
Colonel Montagu. If the above account of the place where the bird was killed be correct
it must either have escaped from some menagerie, or have been driven by accident from
the North American coast to the British shore. Colonel Montagu, not aware what the
bird really was, described it, and doubting whether it was new or previously known,