226 TRINGA PLATYRHYNCHA. 



appearance it is Avild and shy, and similar in its habits to 

 the other species of the genus, feeding on the grassy borders 

 of the small pools and lakes in the morasses. On being dis- 

 turbed it soars to a great height in the air, rising and falling 

 suddenly like the Snipe, uttering the notes too-icho, which 

 are rapidly repeated. As the weather becomes warm its 

 habits totally change, skulking and creeping through the 

 dead grass, and allowing itself to be followed within a few 

 yards ; and when flushed, dropping again a short distance 

 off. It seems to lay its eggs later than others of this tribe 

 generally. I found the eggs not sat upon on the 24th of 

 June, and the last week in July the young were unable to 

 fly, a period when all other Sandpipers are on the move 

 south. The eggs were of a deep chocolate colour, and its nest, 

 like that of the Snipe, was on a hummocky tuft of grass." 



In the tenth volume of the Magazine of Natural History 

 is a notice, by the late Mr. F. D. Hoy, of a specimen of this 

 rare species that was killed in Norfolk : — " The flat-hilled 

 Sandpiper, Tringa platyrhyncha, and Becasseau platyrinque 

 of M. Temminck's Manual, was shot on the 25th of May, 

 1836, on the muddy flats of Breydon Broad. It was in 

 company with some Dunlins and Ring-Plovers. From the 

 season of the year it had probably acquired its summer 

 plumage, and it very closely agrees with the description of 

 the nuptial garb of the species as given by M. Temminck. 

 Tins bird is rather inferior in size to the Dunlin, but may 

 be always readily distinguished from that species by the 

 peculiar form of the bill, as well as considerable difference in 

 plumage. This specimen was preserved by a friend of mine, 

 who did not notice the sex." 



Remarks. — This Sandpiper, and the Pectoral and Buff- 

 breasted, bear more resemblance to the Snipes, Scolopax, 

 than any of the other species, and might with some pro- 

 priety constitute a genus by themselves. The present species 

 has, in fact, by some authors been itself made a genus of. 

 On the other hand, it is so like Tringa Cinclus as to be 

 liable to be confounded with it, and in description is difficult 

 to be distinguished from Tringa subarquata. It is probably 

 not so rare on our eastern coasts as is supposed. 



