496 Col. H. W. Feilden on 



numbers till tlie middle of November. This is one of the most 

 highly esteemed for the table of the migratory Waders. It 

 appears in comparatively small parties, a flock of twelve or 

 fifteen arriving together is considered a large flight. 



52. ToTANUs FLAviPEs, Gmel. Longlegs. 



Arrives in flocks about the 15th of July, though stragglers 

 put in an earlier appearance. I shot an example on the 4th 

 of July at Graeme-Hall s^vamp. The passage lasts till the 

 middle of September, only odd birds appearing after that 

 date. The Yellowshanks is the most numerous of the 

 migratory Waders, and generally forms the chief feature in 

 the bag of the Barbadian sportsman. The flocks do not, 

 however, remain long on the island, but pass on after a few 

 hours' stay. 



53. Khyacophilus solitarius (Wils.). Black-back. 



This species is hardly reckoned a game bird by the Bar- 

 badian sportsmen, and is not generally put up with the 

 bunches of dead fowl, as it is supposed to spoil them. It has 

 a strong and disagreeable odour, very noticeable when skin- 

 ning a specimen. It never flies in flocks, but I have seen 

 them collected in some numbers in wet meadows, when, if 

 disturbed, they fly ofl" in pairs or independently. This bird 

 arrives in July and remains till the end of November. 



54. ToTANUs MACuLARius (Linn.). Wag; Spotted Wag. 

 This species is very common in Barbados, arriving in large 



numbers in July and August. I shot an immature bird on 

 the 4th of July, 1888, and I have been assured on good 

 authority that examples may be met with in the island during 

 every month of the year, especially about the streams in the 

 Scotland District. It resorts on arrival to any small piece 

 of swampy ground, and also lies out in dry yam-fields near 

 swampy spots ; it is likewise a sea-shore feeder, for I have 

 often flushed it from the coral-reef at low water, and small 

 parties, both in the adult and immature dress, may be seen 

 on the sandy beaches following up the retreating waves, like 

 Sanderlings. 



