494 Col. H. W. Feilden on 



notes of the smaller and earlier arrivals^ which they desig- 

 nate " Chirps/^ and those of the later arrivals, which are 

 called " October Chirps " ; these are, as a rule, larger and 

 finer-looking birds, but I think it is merely that with this 

 species the immature precede the adult birds on the southward 

 migration. Mr. Massiah has drawn my attention to a habit 

 of this bird, which I have not previously seen noticed; when 

 reaching the ground, and alighting from passage, all the 

 individuals in the flight throw themselves on the ground, 

 with their breasts touching it, in the position of a brooding 

 hen or pigeon on eggs. Has this habit anything to do with 

 its trivial name of Pectoral Sandpiper ? 



44. Tringa fuscicollis (Vieill.). Grey Nit. 



Arrives in July and continues on the island till the end of 

 November, receiving additions to its numbers. It flies in 

 company with E. pusillus and T. minutilla, and I have brought 

 all three down at one shot. They are considered good eating, 

 and numbers are shot when larger birds are not on the wing. 

 No amount of shooting at them will deter these birds from 

 returning to the edges of the same small swamps to feed, 

 until all are killed. 



45. Tringa canutus, Linn. 



This is included by Schomburgk in his list of Barbados 

 birds, and he also ascribes to it the local name of '^ Mopus,^' 

 which, however, is not recognized at the present day by the 

 Barbados gunners. It is evidently a very rare straggler to the 

 island. I have a single example shot at Chancery Lane on 

 the 6th of September^ 1888, and I did not hear of any others 

 being procured during that season. 



-r-46. Machetes pugnax (Linn.). 



Writing in 1848, Schomburgk includes this species in his 

 list, and remarks : — " The Ruff Sand Piper is a British bird ; 

 and I have been informed that it is the first time that this 

 species has been recorded as having been found on the other 

 side of the Atlantic. Mr. Bishop sent it to me among other 

 migrating birds, and observed that its name was not known, 

 from which I infer that its occurrence in Barbados is a 



