M. F. Pollen on the Geyius Oxynotus. 275 



They are found in little flocks of from two or three to as many 

 dozen^ and associate in the utmost intimacy with Calidris are- 

 naria. On approach they run swiftly, with lowered heads, only 

 taking flight when hard pressed ; but they scatter and straggle 

 so much that it is difficult to kill many at a shot. At high tide 

 they are found in the loose, uneven, dry sand just above the 

 water-mark, but at other times feed in the wet sand and among 

 the weed- covered rocks, quite among the breakers. They fly 

 rapidly, in close flocks, wheeling so as to show alternately the 

 upper and under parts. Their note is a low mellow whistle. 

 Those that 1 shot were not very fat. In the winter plumage 

 the rufous-brown cap is wanting, the crown being nearly or 

 quite the same colour as the back. The bill is black ; the eyes 

 dark brown ; the legs pale livid blue ; the feet blackish. Length 

 from 6*5 to 7 inches, extent of wings 13-5 to 14 inches. 



I should like much to take my readers with me on the Pacific, 

 that we might study together such rare and interesting birds as 

 Cerorhina monocerata, Ptychorhamphus aleuticus, Brachyrhnmphus 

 hypoleucus, and the numbers of little-known Petrels that enrich 

 the coast of Lower California. But the length of this paper 

 warns me that I must check my restless pen. 

 Washington, D. C, January' 29, 1866. 



XXIII. — On the Genus Oxynotus of Mauritius and Reunion. 

 By FRAN901S Pollen, Honorary Assistant of the Royal 

 Museum of Leyden, &c. 



(Plates VII. and VIII.) 



A SHORT time since, on paying a visit to Mr. Edward Newton, 

 1 had the opportunity of reading in ' The Ibis ' for 1865 

 (p. 530) some remarks by its editor on my " Note sur V Oxynotus 

 ferrugineus'^ lately published by the Societe Imperiale d^Accli- 

 matation et d'Histoire Naturelle de I'ile de la Reunion. I 

 must acknowledge that my description and figures of the Oxy- 

 notus of Reunion do not apply to the allied bird of Mauritius, 

 and that I probably made a mistake in describing the former 

 under the name of O.ferrugineus. When I published that paper 

 I had never seen a specimen of the Mauritian bird ; and it was 



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