180 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



OYSTER-CATCHER.* 



March28, 1827. DR. THACKERAY, the Provost of 

 King's College, informs me that he obtained a few 

 days since, in the Cambridge market, a specimen of 

 the oyster-catcher, which had eggs in the ovarium in 

 a state of great forwardness. This looks as if this 

 species were an early breeder. 



CURLEW, f 



AN ornithological friend informs me, that, in the 

 spring of 1827, he found a curlew's nest in an old 

 chalk-pit at Gogmagog Hills, and that the eggs are 

 now in his possession. This is not a species of 

 bird that I should ever have suspected of breeding 

 in these parts. 



GREEN SANDPIPER. J 



Dec. 28, 1825. THE keeper at Bottisham Hall 

 went up early this morning to Whiteland Springs, 

 about a mile from this village, to look for ducks. 

 On his return, he told us he had seen in the shallow 

 streams about there what he called a stone-runner, 

 but was not able to get a shot at it. Not knowing 

 what bird he alluded to under this name, we sent 

 him back in the hopes of his finding it again, which 

 he did, at the same time succeeding in killing it. It 



* Hoematopus ostralegus, Linn. f Numenius arquata, Lath. 

 I Totanus ochropus, Temm. 



