402 NOVA SCOTIAN ZOOLOGY — PIERS. 



Red Phalarope (Grymophilus fuilicariis.) About May, 1893, 

 Mr. Egan received nearly twenty specimens, all brought to him 

 ^t the same time. I have only seen one in Mr. Downs's collec- 

 tion. The species is said to be common on Sable Island. 



Northern Phalarope (Pliolampus lobahtfi). Mr. Egan also 

 had about a dozen of this species brought to him at the 

 ■same time at which he received the Red Phalaropes mentioned in 

 the preceding note. He does not consider the northern species 

 as rare as did Mr. Downs, who mentioned it as " occasional, 

 spring and fall." 



Ruff (Pavoncella pugnaxjl. On the •27th May, 1892, a 

 male bird, probably in immature plumage, was shot at Cole 

 Harbour, Halifax County. Mr. Egan, who mounted the speci- 

 men, was unable to determine the species to which it belonged, 

 and therefore sent it to Mr. George A. Boardman,with a request 

 that it should, if possible, be identified. Mr. Boardman, after 

 examining it, forwarded it to the Smithsonian Institution at 

 Washington. The latter merely replied that it was a young 

 male Ruff. Since then, Mr. Egan, who was unsatisfied with this 

 identification, took the bird to the United States, where it was 

 carefully examined by Mr. William Brewster, Mr. F. B. 

 Webster, and a number of other naturalists, all of whom agreed 

 that the specimen differed in some points from the European 

 Ruf!". This had also been Mr. Boardman's opinion, but he subse- 

 quently waived it to a slight extent, under the impression that 

 the Smithsonian Institution must be correct in its determination. 

 Many series of skins of the Ruff were examined, but no speci- 

 men agreed altogether with the example from Nova Scotia. I 

 think the bird may prove to be a hybrid. When killed, 

 its legs were biack. The " ruff" is wanting. The following 

 measurements were made by me from the mounted bird : length 

 of wing, 6.60 ins. ; middle tail-feather, 2.30 ; gape, 1.42 ; depth of 

 bill at base .25; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, with claw, 1.37. Con- 

 sidering the uncertainty connected with the identification of the 

 -specimen, its name is inserted here with a query. If it proves 

 to be a Ruf}', it is of course a straggler from the Eastern Hemis- 



