OCCURRENCE OF EUROPEAN BIRDS IN N. S. PIERS. 233 



adds, "I think there is a Dunlin immature bird in the Halifax 

 Museum." A specimen in the Provincial Museum, unac- 

 companied by exact locality or date of capture, which is 

 evidently the one referred to by Gilpin, is apparently a 

 Red-backed Sandpiper in winter, or some state of immature 

 plumage, its measurements being as follows: wing, 4.66 

 inches; tarsus, 1.00 inch; bill, 1.40 inches; middle toe with 

 claw, .95 inch; middle toe without claw, .85 inch. These 

 measurements all exceed the maximum ones of the Dunlin 

 as given in Chapman's Handbook. 



Macoun, in his Catalogue of Canadian Birds, 1909, p. 177, 

 gives it as a "rare migrant in Nova Scotia," appending to 

 this statement the name of Harold F. Tufts, then oi' Wolfville, 

 N. S. Mr. Tufts, in his " Notes on the Birds of King's County, 

 Nova Scotia" (Ottawa Naturalist, xii, Dec. 1898, p. 175) g ; ves 

 the Red-breasted Sandpiper (Tringa alpina pacifica, Coues, 

 = Pelidna alpina sakhalina, Vieill.) as "a rather uncommon 

 autumn migrant; observed on the Long Island beach during 

 September;" but he makes no reference in that list to the 

 Dunlin (P. alpina alpina). 



This note in Macoun's list I had at first thought must have 

 been intended to refer to the Red-back Sandpiper, under which 

 latter name he makes no specific reference to Tuft's record in 

 the Ottawa Natuarlist, although he speaks of it generally as " a 

 rare migrant along the Atlantic coast." Furthermore, 

 although there is no doubt that the Dunlin might be expected 

 to occur here accidently, yet the expression "rare migrant" 

 could not adequately represent the mere casual nature 

 of such a bird's occurrence in this Province; whereas it 

 does express the relative rarity of the Red-backed Sand- 

 piper. 



Dr. Harold F. Tufts, now of Jamaica Plain, Mass., in 

 answer to a recent enquiry of mine respecting the beforemen- 

 tioned record, writes: "In regard to the Dunlin, I remember 

 well the bird I took for it, it was shot at Long Island beach, 



