BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER. 633 



THE interesting capture of this bird in Cambridgeshire, 

 made known to the editor of the Illustrated London News 

 by the Rev. Frederick Tearle, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 

 appeared, with a representation of the bird, on the 20th of 

 January, 1855, as follows: 



" Will you allow me, through the medium of your 

 Journal, to make known the occurrence, for the first time 

 in this country, of Bartram's Sandpiper, Totanus Bartra- 

 mius ? It was shot on the 12th of December, 1854, about 

 three o'clock in the afternoon, in a ploughed field between 

 Cambridge and Newmarket. Some farm labourers, who 

 were engaged in thrashing near the spot, observed a strange 

 bird flying round in large circles over the adjoining field, 

 and uttering a whistling cry at short intervals. It fre- 

 quently alighted, and ran along the ground like a Corn- 

 crake. One of the men thought he could catch it with 

 his hat, and gave chase ; but the bird, as soon as he came 

 near, rose, and flew around, whistling as before. On 

 seeing that it did not fly away, the son of a gamekeeper, 

 who lived close by, went into his father's cottage for a 

 gun, and came out and shot it. He sent it to me a few 

 days afterwards, calling it a Whistling Plover. 



" Through the assistance of Mr. Alfred Newton of 

 Magdalene College, I was persuaded that it could be no 

 other than Bartram's Sandpiper, described by Wilson in 

 his 'Birds of America,' and, on referring to the figure in 

 Mr. Gould's ' Birds of Europe,' this opinion was abun- 

 dantly confirmed. It is an extremely graceful bird, and 

 has been remarkably well preserved by Mr. Savill, of 

 Cambridge." 



The Rev. F. Tearle very kindly made known to me, by 

 letter, the occurrence of this rare bird, and did me the 

 favour to show me the specimen, when preserved, at one of 

 his visits to London. 



