OCCURRENCE OF EUROPEAN BIRDS IN N. S. PIERS. 237 



almost sixty miles to the southward of Sable Island, N. S., 

 in latitude about 43 north and longitude 60 west. It died 

 a short time before the steamer reached Boston. Mr. William 

 Brewster of Cambridge, . Mass., got the skin in October, 

 1907, and it is now in his collection, there being no doubt 

 about the identification. (Vide letter of Mr. Brewster to 

 writer, and his notes in The Auk). 



The species is a native of the Eastern Hemisphere, and 

 a fair number of specimens have been taken in Greenland, 

 where it is possible it may occasionally breed, although no 

 instance is known of its having done so. It is known to breed in 

 Iceland, Shetland Isles, Scandinavia and Russia. The Nova 

 Scotian record is the only one of its occurrence in North 

 America south of Greenland. 



LAPWING. Vanellus vanellus (Linn.). A. O. U. No. 269. 

 -Two specimens of this bird have been taken here. The 

 first was one found dead on the shore at Ketch Harbour, 

 eleven miles south of Halifax, N. S., on 17th March, 1897, 

 and was mounted by T. J. Egan. It was very thin and had, 

 no doubt, died from starvation. This was the first record 

 of the species' occurrence in this province. (See Piers, 

 "Notes on N. S. Zoology: No. 4," Trans. N. S. lust. Sc., 

 ix, 1897, p. 258). The only previous record for eastern 

 North America south of Greenland was founded on a specimen 

 taken at Merrick, Long Island, U. S. A., in December, 1883 

 (vide Butcher, The Auk, iii, 1886, p. 438). 



A second Nova Scotian specimen was shot at Upper 

 Prospect, fifteen miles southwest of Halifax, on 12th Decem- 

 ber, 1905, by a man o f that place. It is now in the Provincial 

 Museum of Nova Scotia, accession no. 2954, having been 

 purchased from T. J. Egan, who mounted it, in January, 1906. 

 (Vide Report of Provincial Museum of N. S. for 1906, p, 8). 

 It is interesting to note that a Lapwing was also taken at 

 St. John's, Newfoundland, on 27th November, 1905 ; which 



