438 SCOLOPACJM. 



Orn. U.S. and Canada, ii. p. 113), " This elegant species, 

 some seasons, is not uncommon in the market of Boston, in 

 the months of August and September, being met with near 

 the capes of Massachusetts Bay. My friend Mr. Cooper has 

 also obtained specimens from the vicinity of New York. Its 

 food, while here, consists principally of land and marine 

 insects, particularly grasshoppers, which, abounding in the 

 autumn, become the favourite prey of a variety of birds." 

 But although generally diffused on migration throughout the 

 United States, it is not as a rule abundant, and its visits are 

 somewhat irregular. Vieillot originally described the species 

 from a specimen obtained in Louisiana. Mr. Dresser found 

 it in small flocks of from six to a dozen individuals in August, 

 1863, near Matamoras in Mexico, close to the frontier of 

 Texas, and also between the former and San Antonio de 

 Bejar in Texas itself, but Dr. Heerman said he had not 

 observed it there for several seasons. The birds obtained 

 were very fat, and delicious eating ; they never seemed to 

 frequent the edge of the small ponds, but preferred the 

 sandy plains, and the dry tracks made by the cotton-teams ; 

 the call-note was low and weak. Canon Tristram' obtained 

 a specimen in the Bermudas on the 14th November, 1848 ; it 

 has occurred in Cuba ; and in South America it has been 

 recorded from Colombia, the Upper Amazon, Brazil, and the 

 shores of the Rio de la Plata, the latter being apparently the 

 southern limit of its migration. 



According to Dr. E. Coues, who ha? examined at least a 

 dozen sets, taken by Mr. MacFarlane, the eggs of the Buff- 

 breasted Sandpiper are usually four in number, of a clay- 

 coloured or greyish ground, with bold blotches and spots of 

 rich umber-brown ; the average measurements appear to be 

 1-45 by 1 in. The nest is a slight depression iu the 

 ground, lined with a little grass or a few leaves. 



This species is readily distinguished from all the other 

 birds of this genus by the peculiar markings of the under 

 surface of the wings. 



The beak is slender, and very slightly curved, three- 

 quarters of an inch in length, and greenish-black ; from the 



