292 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



nearly allied to birds already known as British, they may have 

 been overlooked and are likely to occur again, I beg your per- 

 mission to })ut them on record in 'The Ibis.' 



Last May, when at Brechin, in Forfarshire, I was fortunate in 

 procuring a specimen of the American Gos-Hawk [Astur atri- 

 capillus) which had been killed a few months previously by a 

 keeper in the vicinity of Shechallion, in Perthshire. It was 

 sent by him, along with a number of Snow-Buntings and other 

 birds, all recently skinned, to the person from whom I got it ; 

 the specimen had been very roughly pri^pared, as, on afterwards 

 proceeding to relax it, the Glasgow bird-stuffer, whom I em- 

 ployed to mount the skin, found that the brains and eyes had 

 not been removed. This specimen, which is an adult, and 

 apparently a female, is 24'5 in. in length ; the wing from 

 flexure measuring 14 inches, and the tail 105 in. 



The other bird I have at present to refer to is the Green- 

 rumped Tatlcr {Totatms chloropygius) , a specimen of which (the 

 sex not ascertained) was shot some years ago by the late William 

 Gordon, of Airdrie, somewhere on the banks of the Clyde, in 

 the higher grounds of Lanarkshire. This bird remained in Mr. 

 Gordon's hands until his death in August last. He had often 

 referred to it as a species which he could not make out, but had 

 never shown it to any one qualified to give an opinion. His 

 entire collection was brought to Glasgow and submitted to me 

 early in September, but was found to contain nothing of conse- 

 quence except this Sandpiper and a Brown Snipe in winter plu- 

 mage, killed about the same time and place, which he had been 

 unable to identify. To ordinary observers the Green-rumped 

 Tatler strongly resembles the A^ood- Sandpiper [T. glareola) , 

 differing only from that species in the absence of the white shaft 

 of the first quill, and in having the tail-coverts greenish instead 

 of white. It is possible, therefore, that, Ijke other North- 

 American birds (as for instance the Gos-Hawk just mentioned) 

 bearing a likeness to British species, it may come oftener to this 

 country tlian collectors are in the mean time aware of. 

 I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 



Robert Gray. 



