27 2 Dutcher, Rare Long Island Birds. I lu'iv 



Porzana noveboracensis. Yellow Rail. — Two specimens which Col. 

 Pike killed on the meadows near Southampton, Long Island, in 1S48. He 

 says of the species: "Formerly often met with, now very scarce. Ten 

 years ago while shooting over the same ground I did not meet with a 

 single individual." 



Ionornis martinica. Purple Gallinule. — "Formerly very plentiful; 

 slowly passing away. I have not seen one of these birds for man}' years 

 on Long Island. The specimen in the Long Island Historical Society's 

 collection was shot by me at Indian Pond, 1 Long Island." — {Nicolas 

 Pike, MS. notes.) 



Recurvirostra americana. American Avocet. — Says Col. Pike : "I 

 have met with this bird but four times in my life, and it has always 

 been extremely rare on Long Island. The first individual I procured near 

 Ponquogue in 1844, and is the specimen in the collection. The second 

 was killed in 1847 on the shore of Canarsie Bav, near where now stands 

 the Oriental Hotel, Coney Island ; I had a shooting box there. The others 

 were killed at Southampton." 



Himantopus mexicanus. Black-necked Stilt — Two specimens are 

 in the collection, one labelled "Great South Bay, 1843," and the other 

 "Great South Bay." Col. Pike says of them : "These birds were col- 

 lected by me and the location is correct. Always a rare bird on Long 

 Island; I have not seen'one in my rambles for over thirty years." 



Numenius longirostris. Long-billed Curlew. — Two specimens are 

 in the collection, labelled "Rockaway Meadows." Of this species Col. 

 Pike says : "I have shot hundreds of these birds, and fifty years ago they 

 were very plentiful. On 'Foster's Meadows' I always met with them. In 

 the last twenty-five years they seem to have disappeared, and I have not 

 met a single individual. The location of the two specimens in the collec- 

 tion is all right." 



Haematopus palliatus. American Oyster-catcher. — This specimen 

 was brought to Mr. Akhurstin the flesh by 'Old Jake,' the peddler referred 

 to before. It is labelled "South Side Meadows," and was probably shot on 

 the Great South Beach somewhere between Fire Island Inlet and Coney 

 Island. There is no date attached, although Mr. Akhurst says it was 

 many years since and is the only one he ever had from Long Island. Sex 

 not given. 



[Tympanuchus cupido. Heath Hen. — There is no specimen of this 

 species in the collection. Col. Pike remembers having killed individuals 

 of this species a number of times on Long Island — the first time in 1836. 

 "I was making a tour on foot round the Island, collecting, and one morn- 

 ing while encamped at 'Comae Hills' we found our larder empty and 

 visited the plains for game. We killed a number of these birds and made 

 some skins of them. They _were not plentiful, yet we procured all we 

 wanted. Soon after a law was enacted for their preservation. I have not 



1 Indian Pond is at Flatiands, near the old race course. It is in the woods some 

 distance from the Coney Island road. 



