276 Mr. E. Newton's Ornithological Notes from Mauritius. 



excepting that I have not seen them feeding away from the 

 water. The gizzards of two that I examined contained remains 

 of mollusks. 



NuMENius pHjEOPUs. (Hartl. I. c. p. 77.) CorUjeu. 



As the tide ebbs, flocks of from five to twenty Whimbrels 

 come and feed on the mud. They are very wild — so much so, 

 that I only succeeded in getting one specimen. At high water 

 they appear to retire inland ; and I put some off a piece of turned- 

 out cane which had been eaten close by cattle. The bird I 

 shot was in very fresh plumage, having apparently but very 

 recently moulted — indeed its pen-feathers were not half-grown. 

 I saw them at Flat Island in March, and in October I was told 

 they had only just made their appearance at Savanne, and that 

 they stayed but a short time. However, I found some at Can- 

 noneer's Point, on the north-west of the island, the last week in 

 January or first in February of this year (1861), and I heard of 

 one having been killed on the 21st of April, and large flocks 

 seen, so that at any rate they must remain here during the 

 whole of our summer. 



TOTANUS (?). 



On the 27th of September, by the side of the Mer St. Martin, 

 I saw a large Sandpiper, about the size of a Greenshank. It was 

 very wild, and I could not get within a hundred yards of it. I 

 saw it again two or three days after, and with no better success. 



Tringoides hypoleucus (?). (Hartl. I.e. p. 78.) 

 The same day that 1 first saw the last-mentioned species, I 

 had a shot at one of two birds, to my mind exactly our Common 

 Sandpiper. This was at St. Martin. On the 7th of October, I 

 saw one of a])parently the same species at Jacote, but I had no 

 gun. I have also seen them in the vicinity of Port Louis. 



Phaeton flavirostris, (Hartl. /. c. p. 86.) Paille-en-queue. 



A few are to be seen about Savanne ; but there are hardly 

 rocks enough to afibrd breeding-places for many. I think a good 

 number breed in the woods about Curepipe, on the tops of the 

 ])arasitical ferns which grow on the trees : these great bunches 

 of fern form one of the most characteristic features of a Mauri- 



