442 SCOT.OPACID/E. 



was sliot by INIr. James Gray on the sea-banks at Low- 

 boughton Low Stead, in Nortbnmberland, on tbe 21st 

 November, 1879. Mr. Bolam writes : — " It bad been in 

 tbe neigbbourbood for about a week before it was killed, 

 and was in tbe babit of frequenting tbe long grass or 

 ' bents,' witb wbieb tbe links at Low Stead are covered. 

 Mr. Henry Grey, wbo bad a very good opportunity of ob- 

 serving it wbile alive, and wbo spent a considerable time in 

 watcbing its babits, informs me tbat it was not at all sby, and 

 wben amongst tbe tall grass lay like a Snipe or Woodcock, 

 allowing liim to approach witbin a few yards of it before 

 rising, and wben flushed, after flying for a short distance 

 (seldom more than a hundred yards at a time), it would 

 again drop into the long grass, or alighting on tbe bare 

 sand would run oft' to some convenient place of shelter. 

 Wben surprised in tbe open, without any covert at hand 

 amongst which to hide, it ran very swiftly, frequently stop- 

 ping behind a stone, or, after it bad got some distance away 

 from him, standing on a slight hillock or other eminence 

 and watching bis movements, its tail all the while moving 

 up and down with a peculiar swaying sort of motion, not 

 observable in any of tbe other Sandpipers. Its note, uttered 

 for tbe most part wben flying, was a shrill piping whistle. 

 Very unfortunately, it bad not recovered from tbe autumnal 

 moult, many of the feathers being only partly grown, while 

 others are entirely wanting. On dissection it proved to be 

 a female, and the day after it bad been shot, when it came 

 into my possession, weighed 5^ oz., but as it was badly 

 wounded and bad bled a good deal, it must, when newly 

 dead, have been considerably heavier."* Eespccting a sixth 

 example, Mr. J. E. Harting writes (Zool. 1880, p. 508), 

 tbat on tbe 27tb October, tbe late Mr. Cooper, the taxi- 

 dermist of Radnor Street, St. Luke's, brought for bis 

 inspection a freshly-killed specimen which had been pur- 

 chased in Leadenball Market, hanging up witb a lot of 

 Plovers, said to have come with it from Lincolnshire. The 

 stomach contained numerous fragments of wing-cases of 

 ' 'The Field,' 20111 Dec. 1S79 ; ami Tr. Ikiwiek Nat. Club, 1880, p. 1G7. 



