244) Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



going straight away, and as they are excellent eating and very 

 plump, they are well worth shooting. They alight frequently 

 upon wooden fences, but I never saw one perch on a tree. Like 

 the golden plover, they expand the wings and raise them verti- 

 cally above the body upon first settling and when about to take 

 flight. Their food consists altogether of insects, more especially 

 grasshoppers. 



Tryngites rufescens (Vieill.) Buff-breasted Sandpiper. — 

 Though occurring at both seasons of migration, this handsome 

 sandpiper must be considered rare in our district. During the 

 two last days of April, 1880, I saw several small flocks, but lost 

 sight of them altogether from that time until September 21st, 

 when I again observed a party. They invariably resort to dry 

 sandy tracts of upland prairie, where they find an abundance of 

 coleopterous insects on which to feed. 



Tringoides macularius (Linn.) Spotted Sandpiper. — A 

 summer visitor in small numbers, arriving towards the end of 

 April and remaining until the middle of September. During the 

 daytime they retire into the recesses of the forest, from whence 

 they issue shortly before sundown, and seek the banks of the 

 river and the ponds in the timber districts, where they feed upon 

 water insects, and are frequently found consorting with Siurus 

 in such localities. It is only during the seasons of migration 

 that these birds are ever observed on the prairie, and even then 

 very rarely, and always in immature plumage. 



Numenius longirostris, Wils. Long-billed Curlew. — These 

 curlews appear at intervals between the first week of August 

 and Christmas, generally in flocks but sometimes singly, frequent- 

 ino- dry upland stretches of prairie, and feeding upon grasshoppers 

 and other insects. 



Numenius borealis (Forst.) Eskimo Curlew. — Like many 

 other species, this handsome little curlew is found plentifully in 

 our district during the spring migration, but takes some other 

 route on its southward journey in the fall, when it never appears 

 with us. Arriving about the middle of March, they spread them- 

 selves over all the low-lying swampy parts of the prairie in company 

 with Gharadrius dominicus. They are generally found in con- 

 siderable flocks and are then invariably difiicult of approach, but 

 when feeding singly they rather prefer to conceal themselves by 



