PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 79 



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 C. L. Bonaparte, 

 they are found even in Brazil and at Montevideo. They 

 are killed in abundance on the shores of Cohasset, and 

 other parts of Massachusetts Bay, and are brought in num- 

 bers 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 in- 

 stances, 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. WUsonii of Nuttall, T. Pusitta 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 sea- 

 weed, 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 solitary individuals are often 

 surprised by the sportsman in the manner of that bird. 1 ' 



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 Dennisville, in the State of 

 Maine, feeding on the rocky bars of the river at low 

 water." 



