60 b.vrtram's sandpiper. 



and tax'us, each two inches. The upper mandible and the tip of the lower, 

 dai-k brown — remainder, dull yellow; the top of the head, and back, dark 

 brown, each feather edged with a narrow border of buff ; the scapularies, also, 

 dark brown, with a broad border of buff; the neck and breast, dull buff, with 

 arrow-headed streaks of dark brown; throat, chin, belly, thighs, and under 

 tail coverts, white; the primaries, rump, and upper tail-coverts, dark brown, 

 inclining to black ; the two middle tail feathers, brown, with dusky bars — 

 remaining feathers of the tail, bright buff, with whitish tips, and irregular 

 marks of dark brown ; secondaries, long, and protruding crosswise over the 

 quill feathers ; under surface of the wing, white, with numerous and beautiful 

 peucillings of a pale greyish ash-colour. The outer and middle toes are 

 connected by a small web, which extends in the form of a thread-like mem- 

 brane, to their extremities. The chin feathers are remarkable, and extend, 

 like a small tuft of fine wool, more than half an inch along the under surface 

 of the beak. 



Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Feb. 2nd, 1855. 



Mr. Tearle veiy kindly forwarded us a coloured drawing of this fine bird, 

 from which the plate in " The British Birds," by the Rev. F. O. Morris, will 

 be coloui'ed. According to Wilson, the food consists of beetles, and other 

 insects : and he further states, that they are remarkably plump birds, weigh- 

 ing u])wards of three quarters of a pound. The following note, by Mr. Gould, 

 which we extract from the " Illustrated London News," gives all the necessarj' 

 information respecting this fine addition to our Fauna. We are indebted to 

 J. Mcintosh, Esq., F. P. Morris, Esq., T. G. Bonney, Esq., and H. Smur- 

 thwaite, Esq., for notices of the occurrence of this specimen. — B. R. M. 



" I am in receipt of your note containing a drawing of Bartram's Sandpiper, 

 lately killed in Cambridgeshire, and also the accompanying letter from Mr. 

 Tearle. This is only the second instance that has come under my notice of 

 its occurrence in England, and the species must now be included in our 

 Fauna. The other British specimen was killed in Warwickshire, a year or two 

 ago, and is now in the collection of Lord Willoughby de Broke. Continental 

 writers have long noticed Bartram's Sandpiper as an occasional visitor to 

 Evirope ; but the only instances of its having been found in England are those 

 above mentioned. I have lately received, from the Directors of theJVIuseum 

 at Sidney, in New South Wales, a specimen of this bii'd, which had been 

 killed near Botany Bay. This is the first, and at present only known instance 

 of its capture in Australia. The species is evidently a great wanderer, its 

 true habitat being the northern portions of America, from Canada, through- 

 out the United States, to Mexico ; in all which countries it is very common. 

 It is a bird of veiy peculiar form, resembling in some respects that of the 

 members of the genus CEdicnemus, and in others the Trinc/cs. Its habits also 

 partake of those of the birds of both those groups. The peculiarity of its 

 form has caused it to receive many generic appellations — among them, 



