Birds, 9289 
a greater resisting surface to the water and a greater expanse for the 
attachment of muscles, combined with marvellous lightness, Indeed 
the whole structure is one of the most perfectly elegant (if I may use 
the term) and efficient combinations for the very peculiar and special 
objects it is destined to fulfil L have yet seen in Nature. 
In G. pusilla the clavicles are less curved, @.e., straighter, as well 
as longer, in proportion to the size of the bird, than in either G. chlo- 
ropus or G. Crex. The length of the clavicle in G. pusilla, from its 
sternal to its coracoid extremity, is within an eighth of an inch as 
long as the keel from its anterior superior apex to its posterior inferior 
apex: thus the deepest point of the bird from above downwards 
would be exactly in the centre of the skeleton, whilst the whole 
anterior half of the bird is rendered funnel or cone-shaped. 
W. W. Bourton. 
Beverley, July 28, 1864. 
= ——SSS=—=——————— 
Occurrence of the Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper at Kingsbury Reservoir, Middlesex, 
On the 25th of August, while walking round this Reservoir, I was much surprised at 
seeing three ruffs, one ef which (an old male) I succeeded in shooting. This is, as 
far as I can gather, the second time this bird has been procured there. Nineteen years 
ago the keeper found two, and shot them both; they were old males in breeding 
plumage. Ov the 17th of this month (September) my brother killed a curlew sand- 
- piper at the same place ; it was in company with a flock of ringed plovers. The little 
stint has occurred several times this autumn. My brother and I have each shot one, 
and the keeper has seen several others. — W. H. Power ; St. Bartholemew’s Hospital, 
September 19, 1864. 
Occurrence of the Little Stint near Leeds,—On September 13th I shot a male spe- 
cimen of the little stint (Tringa ménuta) near the Reservoir on Yeadon Moor. It is of 
very rare occurrence in this neighbourhood, — Joseph J. Armistead ; Virginia House, 
Leeds. 
Blacktailed Godwit and Spotted Redshank near Chichester.-- On the 24th August 
a blacktailed godwit (Limusa melanura) was shot at a fresh-water pond near here, and 
is now in my possession : it proved to be a male, and J believe is a bird of the year. 
I found the length to be 12} inches, extent of wing 26 inches, and the bill 2} inches 
long. The stomach contained the remains of insects, also a few marine and fresh- 
water shells, and a portion of small gravels. I have another specimen which was shot 
at Birdbam (also by fresh-water), on the 16th of August, 1859. These two are the 
only birds of this species that have, to my knowledge, been killed in this locality 
during that period of five years. I have also received a spotted redshank (Totanus 
fuscus) from Sidlesham, which was shot in Pagham Harbour on the 29th of August. 
This I believe to have been a male, but it was so much decomposed that I could not 
be certain. I have had two other specimens of this bird from the same place, one on 
the 28th of August, 1860, the other on the 14th of October, 1863.— William Jeffrey ; 
Ratham, Chichester, September Y, 1864. 
VOL. XXII. 31 
