C. II. Merriaiti — Birds *>f Co)mtcticut. 105 



tweoue them and tliose of my native country, and more I did not 

 regrard them."* 



187. GallinagO Wilsoni (Temminck) Bonaparte. Wilson's Snipe. 



A resident ; common dui-ing" tlie migrations ; sometimes breeds. 

 Ill October and Xovember (some remain into December) large num- 

 bers are shot on our salt marshes. Mr. W. W. Coe took it Fel). 4th, 

 18V2, near Portland, Conn., and thinks they sometimes winter there in 

 low swampy places. Arrives in March (Mar. 18, 1874, Sage). Mr. W. 

 W. Coe and Mr. J. 11. Sage inform me that they took a nest contahiing 

 three fresh eggs of this species at Portland, Conn., .May 13th, 1874. 

 The eggs were "fully identitied, as the parent bird was found on the 

 nest."f It was not prcA iously known to breed as far south as Con- 

 necticut. The nearest approacli to it is " a set of eggs in the Smithsou- 

 iaji labeled Oneida Co., N. Y."J Mr. Coe tells me that there were a 

 number of Snipe in the field at the time, and he thinks there were 

 other nests which they did not find. 



1 88. Macrorhamphus griseus (Gmelin) Leach. Red-breasted Snipe. 



Not rare during the migrations. "Stratford," Linsley. Mr. J. H. 

 Sage of Portland has a specimen which he shot at Saybrook, Conn., 

 Aug. 21st, 1874. 



189. Ereunetes pnsillus (Linnc) Cassin. Semipalmated Sandpiper. 



-V sununer resident; common along the shore during the migrations. 

 Mr. W. W. Coe has seen it in June. On the 20th of July, 1877, IMr. 

 Walter II. Nichols found, at Branford, Conn., four eggs of a small 

 Sandpiper. They were placed on a few straws in a slight excavation 

 in a corn field, about half a mile from the shore. Supposing them to 

 be the eggs of this species I sent one to Dr. Brewer, who writes : " In 

 the absence of my cabinet, for comparison, I cannot be certain, but I 

 have little or no doubt that it is the e^j^^y, of Ereunetes pnsillus.'''' It 

 is unnecessary to state that this is the first authentic record of its 

 breeding in southern New England. In fall, Dr. F. W. Hall has taken 

 it as early as Aug. 25th (1874). 



* Reprinted in Force's Historical Tracts, vol. ii, Tract 5, p. 47. 

 •)• MS. notes of John H. Sage, Esq. 

 \ Coues' Birds of the Northwest, p. 476. 

 Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. IV. 14 Aug., 1877. 



