164 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



ence is born out by the evidence from other parts of the 

 Atlantic seaboard. I find seven specimens in the Dwight 

 collection critically determined by him. 



Long Island. Probably a rare fall transient. To be iden- 

 tified only when shot, carefully sexed, and measured. A pair 

 taken in August 1894 by Stephen Van Rensselaer Jr. at Heliport; 

 a pair shot at Amityville August 14, 1897 by Wm. C. Braislin, 

 and wrongly identified; three birds collected by Chapin and H. C. 

 Raven at Hempstead Bay, August 15, 1908. 



RUFF (Machetes pugnax) 



An accidental straggler from Europe. Captured on Long 

 Island October, 1851, and May 15, 1868. A recent record is 

 September 26, 1914 as recorded by W. deW. Miller (Auk, 

 April, 1915, page 226). 



UPLAND PLOVER (Bartramia longicauda) 

 The Upland Plover or Bartramian Sandpiper is now one 

 of our rarest birds, and in most parts of our area is gone for 

 ever. No more, I fear, will the student hears its " pro- 

 longed, mournful, mellow" whistle, one of the never-to-be- 

 forgotten sounds of Nature, unless he makes a special trip 

 to a few favored localities. Near New York City, I think, 

 civilization is as responsible as persecution. The bird is 

 shy and wild, requiring a great deal of " elbow room." Even 

 in remote sections of northern New Jersey, the farms are 

 smaller and more numerous than formerly, and the grassy 

 meadows and pastures are too restricted for the bird's re- 

 quirements. This theory is confirmed by the fact that not 

 only is it extinct as a summer resident, but it does not even 

 occur on migration in most of our area. In a few favored 

 localities on Long Island, however, the Upland Plover still 

 occurs as a transient, almost entirely in the fall. 



Long Island. Formerly a common summer resident on the 

 Hempstead Plains, Shinnecock Hills, Montauk Point, and 

 Gardiner's Island, abundant during the migration in August, and 

 of more general distribution. Known to have bred on Gardiner's 



