MICROPALAMA HIMANTOPUS : STILT SANDPIPER. 2OQ 



assertion from the author of the Catalogue, that the bird 

 had * not been found in any part of the coast from St. 

 Andrews to Kittery' (Bull., vol. ii, p. 48). I desire to 

 contribute my evidence in support of Mr. Purdie's 

 statement. M. himantopus has been repeatedly taken 

 on the marshes and sand-bars in the vicinity of Portland, 

 Me., during the early part of autumn" (Bull. Nutt. Club, 

 iii, 1878, p. 102). 



In an article entitled " Apologetic," Dr. Brewer con- 

 tinues : " My statement that not a specimen of the 

 Micropalama was then known to have been taken along 

 the entire coast of Maine may have been ' sweeping.' 

 It was so intended to be. At the time it was made 

 it was literally and exactly true. Of the occasional and 

 irregular occurrence of this bird in the vicinity of 

 Portland I am well aware (see Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., Oct. 3, 1877). Its presence at a single point 

 on the western portion of the coast of Maine,* so long 

 as all the rest of the coast is destitute, does not prove 

 either that it is regular in its migrations, or that these 

 extend along the whole New England coast " (Bull. 

 Nutt. Club, iii, 1878, p. 148). 



On the very page last cited, Dr. Brewer himself gives 

 an interesting note of the bird's abundance in Long 

 Island (and therefore between Buzzard's Bay and East 

 River). It is as follows : " In a late paper read before 

 the Linnaean Society of New York, Mr. N. T. Law- 

 rence speaks of this species as being common on the 

 south side of Long Island (N. Y.). He has quite often, 

 while Bay-Snipe shooting, had parties of from three to five, 



* For occurrence eastward of the species, in New Brunswick for 

 example, see Chamberlain, Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B., 1881, p. 53, 

 and Bull. Nutt. Club, vii, 1882, p. 105. 



