228 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



Cecil Smith, Esq., of Lydeard House, near Taunton, author of the 

 " Birds of Somerset "), i.e., that, whereas in T. ochropus the axillaries 

 are dark with white markings, in T. glareola they are just the reverse, 

 being white with dark markings. The general appearance of the 

 two birds is otherwise somewhat similar, though T. glareola is much 

 more spotted on the back than the other. [There is also a third 

 species, very like this, which has, however, only once been recorded 

 as having visited us (and that on the banks of the Clyde, I believe) , 

 T. solitarius, or the Solitary Sandpiper, but in this species the tail 

 coverts are dark instead of white, unlike those in the Green and 

 Wood Sandpipers.] I came across a nice specimen of T. glareola 

 in Reading, a year or two ago, when Harbor, the naturalist, showed 

 me one of these birds ; he not being sure as to what it really was, 

 but calling it a Summer Snipe. It was killed by a Mr. Tarrant, of 

 Hartley Row, about the year 1874. Three or four occurrences of 

 these birds have been noted at Christchnrch j one in January, 1864, 

 two in 1868, in the August month, and another on August 19th, 

 1873, now in Hart's collection. 



Tetanus Hypoleucos. " Common Sandpiper .'' Found scattered in 

 the summer months along the banks of almost all our rivers, but 

 not in any numbers together. I see them every summer in this 

 parish, but have never found their nest, which is always most care- 

 fully hidden. No bird fancier would overlook this pretty but sober- 

 coloured little wader, as it skims along the surface of the water with 

 arched and half-expanded wings, or as it trips along the margin, or 

 runs lightly over the water-weeds in front of you. This is the 

 genuine Summer Snipe, a name given commonly to any other 

 Sandpiper which may fall into the hands of a partial observer, such 

 as the last two species commented on. This summer I had a skin 

 of the young of the Spotted Sandpiper given me from America, which 

 so exactly resembles our common bird that I could not for some time 

 believe it to be a specimen of the spotted sort, of which I can gain 

 no tidings in these parts. But the great similarity which exists 

 between the young of both species may sometimes have caused the 

 rarer one to be overlooked and mistaken for the other. 



Totanus Glottis. " Greenshank." A bird that always causes a 



