192 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



autumn. A Wood Sandpiper was shot on Dorney 

 Common, near Eton, a few years since ; and the 

 species has been observed on the banks of the Thames, 

 where, however, it is far rarer than its congener the 

 Green Sandpiper. In the spring of 1867 a Wood 

 Sandpiper was killed near Surley, and I examined it 

 shortly afterwards. The man who shot it was 

 ignorant of the species, calling it a Godwit. 



BLACK-WINGED STILT (Himantopus melanopterus}. 

 The Black- Winged Stilt, or Long-Legged Plover, is 

 a rare visitor indeed to the British Isles. In the 

 spring of 1834, a bird which so exactly answered to 

 the description of this species that it could be none 

 other, laid two eggs by the side of a large pond in 

 a wood near Beacbnsfield, and was captured in a net 

 while sitting upon them. Nobody knew at the time 

 what this bird was, but a person who saw it told me 

 it had exceedingly long legs, and was like a Plover 

 in the shape of its body, which was black and white ; 

 it was kept alive for some days, being fed upon small 

 fish, but it eventually died, and was stuffed in Eton. 

 Both the eggs were sold, and I believe the bird was 

 also disposed of, but I have never been able either to 

 obtain a view of it or learn any further particulars. 



BAR-TAILED GODWIT (Limosa rufa\ Although 

 at some seasons of the year this species is not 

 uncommon on marsh land near the sea, it is rarely 

 found far inland, and never remains to breed in 

 England, 



