488 GLEANINGS FROM THE CALCUTTA MARKET. 



The question remains : Can I have made a mistake about that 

 one specimen ? I recovded its dimensions and description on 

 board the " Amberwitch/ - ' and after that it was in some way mis- 

 laid, and no specimen of fulicarius is forthcoming. It is not 

 likely that I should have made such a mistake, since my re- 

 marks on page 247 show clearly that I thoroughly understood 

 even then the marked structural difference between the two 

 forms. Still the specimen is not forthcoming, and every other 

 specimen since obtained has been hyperboreus, so that, even if 

 I was correct in my identification, fulicarius can only be a rare 

 straggler to those parts, it being Lobipes hyperboreus, and not 

 Phalar opus fulicarius, that is the regular and well-known visi- 

 tant to the upper part of the Indian Ocean, and the Gulfs of 

 Oman and Persia. 



891. — Rhyacophila glareola, Lin. 



This species is one of the pikes de resistance of the 

 market. I find, on the 20th of October, a note "al- 

 ready piles of the Spotted Sand Piper/' and again on 

 26th April " still numbers of glareola." Certainly not less 

 than 10,000 of this bird, and I estimate nearer 15,000, are sold 

 in this market every season. It is quite a common thing to see 

 upwards of 200, (though you may in bad dark weather see only 

 a score or two), and more than once that I have had assistance 

 in counting we have counted over 500. Where do they all come 

 from year after year ? No doubt the supply is somewhat di- 

 minishing ; this I can plainly notice, and the exertions necessary 

 to secure what is brought in have, the people tell me, been mul- 

 tiplied many fold. Still, considering the limited area worked, as 

 also the fact that it is densely populated, and presents no special 

 attractions, quite the contrary, to wild birds, the immense 

 numbers of this and other species brought in are astounding. 



892 — 897. — Totanus ochrophus, glottis, stagnatilis, fuscus, 

 calidris and Tringoides hypoleucus. 



All occur pretty commonly ; calidris, however, is by 

 far the most common ; scarcely a morning that from 5 

 to 50 are not seen. Next, but less common, is glottis; 

 less common still is stagnatilis. As for fuscus and hypo- 

 leucus, though you could not call them rare, still you would 

 probably not see them on the average above once in ten days. 

 Strange this, considering how much more common elsewhere 

 hypoleucus is than all the rest. 



894 bis.— Pseudototanus haughtoni, Armstr. 



Once, and once only, have I met with this species in the 

 Calcutta Bazaar. 



