GRALLATORES. 195 



the aviary, when, much to my disappointment, I 

 found him dead among the rushes." 



BROWN SNIPE, Scolopax grisea. A specimen of 

 this rare Snipe, in the collection of Mr. Bond, was 

 killed some years ago on the banks of the Thames, 

 near Battersea ; and a second, in my own collection, 

 was shot on the Brent, near Stone Bridge, in Octo- 

 ber, 1862. 



The summer plumage of this bird has procured 

 for it the name of Redbreasted Snipe. Both the spe- 

 cimens above mentioned are in autumn plumage, with 

 only a faint tinge of buff upon the breast. It is a 

 native of North America, and, in some parts of that 

 continent, is very plentiful It is very rarely met with 

 in England. By some naturalists it is considered as 

 the connecting link between the Snipe and Sand- 

 pipers, and in its relative proportions and general 

 colour it is intermediate between these two families. 



CURLEW SANDPIPER, Tringa subarquata. Two 

 examples of the Curlew Sandpiper, both birds of the 

 year, were obtained at Kingsbury Reservoir on the 

 2nd September, 1844. A third, killed some years 

 later at the same place, is in the collection of Mr. 

 Bond. Mr. W. H. Power informed me that his 

 brother shot a Curlew Sandpiper at this Reservoir 

 on the 17th September, 1864, which was in company 

 with a flock of Ringed Plovers ; and that on the 2nd 

 September following they each killed a Curlew 

 Sandpiper, out of a flock of Ring Plovers, at the same 



