78 GRALLATORES. TOTANUS. SANDPIPER. 



sitant ; a solitary straggler being now and then driven as far 

 to the westward as the longitude of our islands during the 

 periodical migration of the species from the northern to the 

 more southern districts of Europe. The short specific de- 

 scriptions given by LINNAEUS of these two nearly allied birds, 

 and their rare occurrence in Britain, without doubt induced 

 Dr LATHAM and others (as mentioned in the preceding ac- 

 count of the Green Sandpiper) to think that they might be 

 identical. His description, however, of the present bird, in 

 his Index Ornithologicus, ought to have satisfied him that 

 it could not be the Tringa Aldrovandi of RAY and WIL- 

 LOUGHBY, quoted as a synonym of Ochropus (and with great 

 propriety, as it answers exactly to it) ; for he describes Gla- 

 reola as having " remiges fuscae, rachi nivea, secundariae 

 apices margine alba, 1 ' characters which are correct, and very 

 distinctive of the species. MONTAGU, in his Ornithological 

 Dictionary, has so accurately described each from personal 

 inspection, as to render mistake, or a confusion of the spe- 

 cies, almost impossible for any one who is enabled to com- 

 pare his descriptions with the specimens of these birds. He 

 has, however, in his Appendix to the Supplement of the 

 same work, created some unnecessary confusion by rejecting 

 the Linnean specific appellation of Glareola altogether, and 

 imposing in its place the new title of Tringa Gr dilator is 

 (Long-legged Sandpiper) ; which confusion is still further 

 increased by Mr STEPHENS, in his Continuation of SHAW'S 

 Zoology, giving both the Glareola of LINN^US, and Gralla- 

 toris of MONTAGU as distinct species. In size, this bird is 

 fully one-third less than the Ochropus^ with the legs much 

 longer in proportion ; the tarsi of the former being one- 

 eighth of an inch longer than those of the latter, and the 

 naked part of the tibia is considerably longer. In addition 

 to the specimens recorded by MONTAGU and others, I can 

 mention a beautiful one of the young bird, killed at Elling- 

 ham in the month of September 1828 (now in my collection, 

 and a description of which is given below) ; a second, killed 



5 



