28 THE BIRDS OF THE BERMUDAS. 
and audible fora short distance only. I don’t think ‘‘ Bob-White,”’ 
the familiar American name, fairly represents the call; it is too 
sharp and well-defined. These birds are fond of the ripe berries of 
the sage and cedar; the latter give the flesh a decidedly unpleasant 
aromatic flavour. They also eat the sweet potatoes in small pieces. 
Great numbers of the young are destroyed by the swarm of cats 
which infest the islands. An old ‘‘coloured’’ lady once accosted a 
gallant officer of the 53rd Regiment, who was beating some likely 
ground near her cottage, and asked him what he was looking for. 
** Partridges !’’ cried she, with a sneer on her sable features, ‘‘ I 
don’t want a gun to get them. Why! my cat brings me in one 
every morning!’’ Cats, however, are not the only foes to be 
dreaded. The ‘‘coloured’’ sportsmen take the eggs and eat them, 
while a white ‘‘sportsman’”’ resident on the islands was once over- 
heard to say, ‘‘It’s all very well for the officers; they get lots of 
practice—can shoot Partridges at any time—but the only time I can 
get them is when they have nests, and I can kill the old birds.’’ 
No wonder the poor birds are kept down, and increase with 
lamentable slowness. If it were not that they are so hard to put 
up and shoot in a workmanlike manner (two brace being quite a 
‘“’pag’’’ in one day) their extermination would be a matter of a few 
years only. 
Squatarola helvetica, Grey Plover.—Unlike the next species, this 
is by no means a frequent visitor to the Bermudas. One was 
killed, and another seen, by Major Wedderburn at Mangrove Bay 
in September, 1848. I shot one on the beach below the Sand Hills 
on the 5th, and another near Warwick Camp on the 13th N ovember, 
1874. Both these birds were alone. 
Charadrius virginicus, American Golden Plover.—Dr. Coues is of 
opinion that the American bird cannot be specifically separated 
from the Asiatic C. fulvus (an undoubted specimen of which has 
been recently obtained in the Prybilov Islands). It can always be 
distinguished from our European C. pluvialis by its grey axillaries. 
An excellent account of the appearances of this species in Bermuda 
is given by Mr. Hurdis (Nat: in B., pp. 71-77), who goes carefully 
and thoroughly into the question of its wonderful migrations. 
Major Wedderburn says (p. 36), ‘‘ During some years large flocks 
of these birds pass over the islands in the months of September and 
October ; but, unless in stormy weather, they do not alight in any 
great numbers. I have seen it as early as the 21st August, 1847, 
at Ireland Island; again on the 25th July, 1848, at Hamilton. 
The latter was a single bird sitting on the road close to the house 
in which I lived; but by the time I got out it was gone. On the 
9th March, 1852, one was shot in beautiful plumage, on the north 
shore ; and this is the only instance of its appearing in spring.”’ 
Numbers appeared in September, 1874, frequenting the grassy 
slopes of the north shore—their favourite haunt—and even the 
parade grounds, during the continuance of a three days’ revolving 
gale. Many were shot, all in the mottled dress which procured 
for the species the specific name ‘‘ marmoratus.’? Small flocks 
continued to arrive at intervals during the autumn, remaining only 
a few days in each case, I obtained specimens on the 14th and 
