218 Letters, Notes and Extracts. 
On the other hand, that they set out from America with 
the intention of proceeding eastward is quite obvious: how 
otherwise is the presence of so many of these birds on the 
east coast of England to be accounted for? It seems most 
unlikely that they would make their way round the coast 
and turn northward on reaching Dover. 
As time goes on and more interest (if possible!) is taken 
in these so-called “ stragglers,” I feel convinced that, pro- 
vided there are a sufficient number of observers on the west 
coasts of Ireland and England, many species of American 
birds will be found to arrive on those coasts every autumn. 
This is, of course, chiefly supposition, though it is borne out 
somewhat by facts; and the question may well be asked— 
Why do these American birds migrate eastward? But it 
might also be asked, why does Richards’s Pipit cross Asia 
and appear in such numbers on Heligoland ? 
I am, Sirs, yours &c., 
Micnaet J. NIcout. 
Zoological Gardens, 
Giza, Egypt, 
November 9th, 1906. 
Srrs,—In the last number of ‘ The Ibis’ (1906, p. 704), 
under the heading Tringa subarquata, Mr. M. J. Nicoll 
writes as follows :—‘“‘ The example obtained (a female) was 
just assuming the breeding-plumage by moult, but the new 
feathers on the mantle are black with no sign of any rufous 
on them. ‘This colour on these feathers must therefore be 
due to an infusion of colouring pigment or some other form 
of colowr-change, as it is not possible that the breeding- 
plumage could be assumed by a double moult.” 
The conclusion reached by Mr. Nicoll, whether it was based 
upon this single specimen or upon an examination of a larger 
number, is not borne out by the following facts :-— 
(1) A number of skins of the Curlew-Sandpiper shot by 
myself in Spain in the months of April and May, and others 
in the British Museum, collected in spring in various 
countries, have (a) in the males all the new feathers on the 
