PIGMY CURLEW. BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. 161 



SPECIES 150 THE PIGMY CURLEW. 



Tringa subarquata. Linn. 

 Becasseau corcoli. Temm. 



Curlew Sandpiper. 



THIS species, closely resembling the preceding in size and 

 general appearance, may at once be distinguished by its more 

 graceful and elegant form, and during all seasons by its white 

 upper tail coverts. 



Very rarely occurring upon our eastern coasts, it is, per- 

 haps, found in the greatest proportion upon the northern and 

 north-eastern portion of the island ; and although it has 

 never come under our own observation along the Dublin, 

 Louth, or Wicklow shores, it has occurred in five or six in- 

 stances, two of which were obtained for our collection. In 

 the great majority of instances the pigmy curlew has been 

 procured during autumn. None were ever observed on the 

 coast after that season. 



One of the most beautiful of the smaller shore -birds, the 

 pigmy curlew is admirably worthy of its name, as it is a com- 

 plete miniature of its larger namesake, and from standing 

 higher on the tarsi than the dunlin when intermixed with 

 flocks of the latter, it might seem to look down upon the pre- 

 tensions of that melodious little sandpiper. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



SPECIES 151 THE BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER. 



Tringa platyrhyncha. Selty. 

 Becasseau platyrhynque. Temm. 



As noticed by Mr. Thompson in the Annals of Natural His- 

 tory, this rare species has only been obtained in two instances 

 in Great Britain, one of which was shot on a muddy ooze, in 

 the vicinity of Belfast, together with eleven golden plover 

 and eight dunlins, all of which were obtained by the one dis- 

 charge of a swivel gun. 



Of exceeding interest, we have taken the following excel- 

 lent remarks on the species from Mr. Thompson's Irish 

 Fauna : 



" This is a very interesting species to the ornithologist, 

 from the circumstance of its presenting the characters of se- 

 veral genera. Its general aspect, body, plumage, delicate 

 tarsi and feet, is that of a Tringa ; but in the form of the. 

 head, breadth between the eyes, and broad base of bill, \\\- 

 M 



