120 



THE OSPREY. 



of the Solitary Sandpiper upon the shores of a 

 little island near King-ston. The bird itself has 

 occasionally been met with in Canada; but this 

 is the first instance recorded of the discovery 

 of its egg-s in this countrj'". 



A correspondent, writing- to me from Guelph 

 in the fall of the past year, states that a pair of 

 these birds were observed about the marg-in of 

 a small lake near that city, on various occasions 

 during the past summer, and that he was cer- 

 tain they had nested there. 



The Solitary Sandpiper is rather a rare mi- 

 grant in the vicinity of Listowell; but, being- 

 rather solitary' in its habits, and frequenting 

 out of-the-waj- places, about the margins of 

 creeks and ponds, where persons who are dis- 

 posed to report their observations seldom resort, 

 it is not improbable that the species may be 

 more abundant, than is now supposed bj^ those 

 who study our avifaunian life, and that they 

 nest in places where our few ornithologists have 

 never dreamed of. And seldom does a spring, 

 or autumn season come and g^o without some of 



the species being observed about some ponds on 

 Wildwood; but the latter part of May and the 

 ending- of July are the periods when they are 

 grenerally noted here. At times they are seen 

 in pairs; but more often alone. Owing to its 

 form, color, size, notes, and the peculiar manner 

 in which it frequently raises its wings, it is 

 easily recognizable to the habitual observer as 

 specifically distinct from the more common 

 Spotted Sandpiper. 



In the Saunders and Morden List of Birds of 

 Western Ontario, 1882, it is stated that, in the 

 summer of 1879, this bird bred very commonly 

 along the streams in Middlesex; but has since 

 become quite rare. No details of its nesting 

 or eggs are given. Other ornithologists have 

 described its nest as being very similar to that 

 of the Spotted Sandpiper, and its egg-s to be of 

 clay-color, with a reddish and blackish tinge. 

 So far no complete set of its eggs is known to 

 exist in any collection, and much interest must 

 still be manifested in any authentic report re- 

 jrardine: its nidiflcation. 



WILLIAM SWAINSON AND HIS TIMES.— II. 

 By Theodore Gill, Washington, D. C. 



[Continued fro})! pa^c 108.) 



"Soon after this, I was appointed, by general 

 Maitland, chief of the commissariat staff in 

 Genoa. But the glorious works of the Italian 

 painters, so profusely scattered in the churches 

 and galleries of Rome and Florence, cooled, for 

 a time, my passion for natural historj^ I began 

 collecting their pictures, sketches, and etch- 

 ings — particularly those of the Genoese school 

 — without, however, neglecting the plants and 

 insects of northern Italy. After making excur- 

 sions, as opportunity or duty permitted, through 

 various parts of Tuscany, I was ag^ain ordered 

 to join the head-quarters of our army at Palermo, 

 where I arrived in the autumn of 1814. The 

 Russian campaign of 1812 had now totally 

 changed the political horizon. England had at 

 length restored Naples to the king of the Two 

 Sicilies; and the French had been completely 

 driven out of Italy. Eight years had elapsed 

 since I quitted England; and I looked forward, 

 with no small delight, to the reduction of the 

 Mediterranean army, which would release me 

 from my official duties. The examination and 

 audit, however, of the numerous accounts con- 

 nected with its establishment, required the 

 greatest exertion on our part; and my applica- 

 tion to return home was therefore suspended 

 until the following 3'ear. At Palermo, I had 

 the pleasure of meeting the baron Bivona, the 

 most learned botanist of Sicily; and my old cor- 

 respondent, Rafinesque Schmaltz, whose first 

 name is familiar to most zoologists. In the 

 society of such congenial minds, I passed man 3' 

 happy hours, and made many delightful excur- 

 sions. By the assistance of the first, my mate- 

 rials for a Flora Sicula were considerably aug- 

 mented; while, by the inducements of the latter, 



I was led to investigate the ichthyology of the 

 western coast. These duties and relaxations 

 continued until the middle of 1815; when my 

 health gradually getting- worse, it was deemed 

 necessary, by the medical men, that I should 

 return to England. I embarked from Palermo; 

 and had the happiness of landing'- all mj' collec- 

 tions of nature and art at Liverpool, in the 

 autumn of 1815. 



"I was now only twenty-six; and through the 

 powerful interest of my family connections (cer- 

 tainU' not from my own merit), I had risen to 

 a rank somewhat unusual for a 3'oung man.* I 

 liked the service, but my old passion for travel- 

 ling in tropical countries returned with its 

 original force: I had now to choose, whether I 

 would give up the latter for some new and 

 higher appointment my friends were ready to 

 procure me, or whether I should go upon half 

 pay, and follow my own course. I hesitated not 

 to choose the latter." 



AFTER RESIGNATION. 



So Swainson resigned his active command in 

 the army. He was unwilling, however, to en- 

 tirely "cut loose" from -it. He gloried in reni- 

 iniscenses of his former connection. He boasted 

 that he had been, "in fact, the youngest Assis- 

 tant Commissarj'-General on the staff of the 

 Mediterranean Army," and thought that he 

 mig^ht be "pardoned, therefore, for having been 

 somcrvhat particular,'^ he says, "in my horses 

 and 'equipments,' " which he had described.* 

 He published the reminiscense in the initials 

 following his name on the title pages of his vari- 

 ous books — "A. C. G." (Assistant Commissary- 



*I was, in fact, the youngest Assistant Commissary-General on the staff of the Mediterranean army. I may be pardoned, 

 therefore, for having been somewhat iKirtlcular in my horses and "equipments". 



