84 SCOLOPACID^. 



they are common in the remote plains of the Mississippi, 

 and retire at the approach of winter to the southern limits 

 of the Union, being met with at this season also in the 

 West Indies. According to D'Azara and Prince Charles 

 Bonaparte, they are found even in Brazil and at Monte- 

 video. They are killed in abundance on the shores of 

 Cohasset, and other parts of Massachusetts Bay, and are 

 brought in numbers to the market of Boston, being very 

 fat and well-flavoured. They arrive in flocks about the 

 close of August, and continue here, as well as in New 

 Jersey, till the month of September, and perhaps into 

 October. In some instances, solitary individuals have 

 been killed in the marshes of Charles river in Cambridge, 

 about the 22nd of July ; these were in company with the 

 flocks of small Sandpipers, T. Wilsonii of Nuttall, T. 

 Pusilla of Wilson ; but whether pairs may breed in the 

 neighbouring marshes or not, we have not had the means 

 of ascertaining. While here they feed on small coleoptera, 

 larvae, and the common green Ulva latissima, as well as 

 some species of Fucus, or seaweed, on which they become 

 very fat. They utter a low plaintive whistle when started, 

 very similar to that of some other species. Like the Snipe 

 they seem fond of damp meadows and marshes, and soli- 

 tary individuals are often surprised by the sportsman in 

 the manner of that bird." 



Mr. Audubon in his third volume says, "This Sandpiper 

 is not uncommon along the shores of our Eastern States in 

 autumn and winter. It has also lately been found in Eng- 

 land, and I have seen a specimen of it in the possession of 

 William Yarrell of London, which was shot at no great 

 distance from the metropolis. I first met with this species 

 in the immediate vicinity of Dennis ville, in the State of 

 Maine, feeding on the rocky bars of the river at low water." 



The stomach of one examined by Mr. Audubon con- 



