JEGIALITES WILSONIUS : WILSONS PLOVER. I/I 



the Middle States, that its presence in New England 

 has been denied. Dr. Brewer wrote in 1875 : "I am in 

 doubt in regard to this species. It is not of Massachu- 

 setts, although my name is usually quoted as authority 

 therefor. Its occurrence on the coast of Connecti- 

 cut is quite probable, but as I have no data therefor, 

 I take it from among the birds of New England, at least 

 for the present" (Pr. Bost. Soc., xvii, 1875, p. 452). In 

 1878, Mr. Allen includes it only hypothetically among 

 the birds of Massachusetts, stating that there appears to 

 be no recent well authenticated instance of its occur- 

 rence north of Long Island (Bull. Essex Inst., x, 1878, 

 p. 33). For Connecticut, Mr. Merriam allows the Rev. 

 Mr. Linsley's early record of a capture at Stratford, adding 

 Mr. J. P. Giraud's authority for its occurrence on Long 

 Island (Rev. B. Conn., 1877, p. 102). 



This was one of the species which caused quite a con- 

 troversy between Dr. Brewer and Mr. Purdie (Bull. 

 Nutt. Club, i, 1876, pp. 72, 91 ; ii, 1877, pp. 13, 46). 

 The sum of the evidence at that time appears to have 

 been correctly indicated by Mr. Purdie (1. c., 1877, p. 13) ; 

 it consisted of the bird's known appearance on Long 

 Island ; the Linsley record, which was perhaps properly 

 considered open to question ; Mr. Allen's statement (in 

 Am. Nat., iii, 1869) to the following effect : "It hence 

 seems unquestionable that they sometimes occur in 

 southern New England, and it would not be strange if 

 they should occasionally reach the coast of Massachu- 

 setts ; " together with the general statement of the bird's 

 habitat by Coues, in the Birds of the Northwest : " North 

 to Long Island and Connecticut, probably to Massachu- 

 setts, but rare beyond New Jersey." 



There is a late Long Island record by Wm. Butcher, 



