VOL. LX".] PHILOSOPHICAL TBANiSACTIONS. 343 



on fish, worms, &c. They weigh 7 pounds and a half, are 34- feet long, and 

 3 feet 5 incites broad; the bill is 4 inches long, the legs 7 inches, but the leg 

 and thigh 19. 



Ardea. 37. Americana, 234. 5. Hooping Crane. Edw. 132. Catesby, 1. 75. 

 Faun, Am. Sept. 14. York fort. 



Edwards's figure is very exact; Catesby 's is not so good, as it represents the 

 bill too thick, towards the point. 



38. Stellarius, 239. 21. Varietas. The Bittern, Br. Zool. Edw. 136, 

 Faun. Am. Sept. page 14.* Severn river, N° 54. . K 



At first sight, Mr. F. thought the specimen sent from Hudson's Bay, was a 

 young bird; but on nearer examination, and comparing it with Mr. Edwards's 

 account and figure, he takes it to be a variety of the common bittern peculiar 

 to North America; it is smaller, but on the whole very much resembles our bittern. 

 Mr. Edwards's measurements and drawings correspond very well with the speci- 

 men. This bird appears at Severn river the latter end of May, lives chiefly 

 among the swamps and willows, where it builds its nest, and lays only two eggs 

 at a time; it is ver)' indolent, and, when roused, removes only to a short distance. 



18. Scolopax, Woodcock. 39. Totanus. 245. 12. Spotted Woodcock. 

 Faun. Am. Sept. 14. Albany fort, N° \6. 



This bird is called a yellow leg at Albany fort, from the bright yellow colour of 

 the legs, especially in old birds; a circumstance in which it varies from the 

 descriptions of Linnaeus and Brisson, probably because they described from dried 

 specimens, in which the yellow colour always changes into brown. It agrees in other 

 respects perfectly well with the descriptions: it comes to Albany fort in April or 

 beginning of May, and leaves it the latter end of September. It feeds on small 

 .shell fish, worms, and maggots; and frequents the banks of rivers, swamps, 

 &c. It is called by the natives sa-sa-shew, from the noise it makes. 



Scolopax. 40. Lapponica. 246. 15. Red Godwit. Br. Zool. Faun. Am. 

 Sept. 14. Ed. 138. Churchill river, N° 13. 



Linnaeus describes this bird very exactly in his Systema Naturae: the middle 

 of the belly has no white in the society's specimen, as that had from which the 

 description in the Br. Zool. octavo i, p. 353, 354, was taken. All the other 

 t characters correspond. 



Scolopax. 41. Borealis. New Species. Eskimaux Curlew. Faun. Am. 

 Sept. 14. Albany fort, N° 15. 



This species of curlew, is not yet known to the ornithologists ; the first 



• In the FaunvJa Americae Septentrionalis, p. 14. the synonym of Ardea Hudsonia, Linn, has by 

 mistake been annexed to the bittern, and likewise pi. 135 of Edwards has been quoted instead of 

 plate 136. They are two very different birds.— Orig. 



