100 Notice of the Arrival of Twenty-six of the Summer Birds 



Marsh on the 1st of September, the only specimens we have 

 hitherto heard of that have been captured in this vicinity. Both 

 were young birds, in all probability not more than nine or ten 

 weeks old, and their plumage was in almost every respect very 

 similar to the young of the Common Sandpiper (Totanus 

 hypoleucos) of the same age. They proved, upon dissection, 

 to be of different sexes, and were exceedingly fat. 



155. Double Fork-tailed Sandpiper {Tringa minuta). — Two 

 of these scarce birds have been procured in this neighbour- 

 hood; namely, an old male, on the 18th of November, in a 

 small fresh-water creek or inlet on Brugh Marsh, and an adult 

 female, on the 1st of September, in company with the prece- 

 ding species. The former had acquired its winter livery, and 

 had black legs ; the latter still retained the greater part of its 

 summer dress ; the legs of this bird were of a pale olive-green. 



Previous to the publication of Temminck's justly celebrated 

 Manuel d y Ornithologies these two diminutive species of Sand- 

 piper were almost invariably confounded together by the best 

 ornithologists; and there is reason to believe that even at this 

 time their specific marks of distinction are often overlooked 

 by many, especially by those who have not had an oppor- 

 tunity of examining them alive or when recently killed. In 

 either of these states their appearance is so very different that 

 they may be recognised without the least difficulty. The very 

 weak slender bill of T. pusilla is then very visibly bent or 

 curved, but becomes, as Temminck very correctly remarks, 

 quite straight when perfectly dry: — independent of this specific 

 characteristic, the shorter tarsi, and cuneiform tail of this 

 species, will at all times point out this bird from T. minuta. 

 The flight as well as whistle or notes of these birds are also 

 very different. 



We have subjoined the comparative weights and dimensions 

 of the four birds above alluded to. 



It perhaps may not be amiss to observe that the various 

 English specific names given to these two birds by recent au- 

 thors, appear to us to be by no means either characteristic or 

 appropriate; and each succeeding writer, as if dissatisfied with 



