SCOLOPACID^E. 431 



This bird seems to have been overlooked by 

 Bewick; but Montagu notices it as having been 

 killed near Bridgwater as long ago as 1807: later 

 instances are probably more numerous : two in my 

 own collection were killed, one on Stert Island, at 

 the mouth of the river Parret, and the other on the 

 shore between that place and Stogursey ; two also, 

 in Mr. Haddori's collection, were killed at the same 

 place. No doubt many other specimens have oc- 

 curred from time to time, although our coast does 

 not quite agree with the habits of the bird, as it 

 prefers a rocky rather than a muddy coast: there 

 are, however, here and there low rocky ridges 

 running out into the sea, and also some rough 

 shingly places, in both of which places it seeks its 

 food. I have also found it on the same sort of 

 place on the south coast of Devon, at Exmouth. It 

 runs quite close down to the sea in its search for 

 food, and when caught by a larger wave than usual 

 it crouches away from it, holding firmly on to the 

 rock and allowing the spray to dash completely over 

 it ; * on the receding of the wave it rises and runs 

 about nimbly till the approach of the next. In the 

 situations in which I have seen it feeding it must 

 occasionally have recourse either to swimming or 

 flying to avoid the run of the sea or to regain its 



* See note by Mr. Gatcombe in the 'Zoologist' for 

 1866 (Second Series, p. 96). 



