SCOLOPACID/E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — TRYNGITES. 307 



Mr. Dresser met with this bird near Mataiuoras late in August. A'isiting the 

 lagoon early one morning-, he noticed a tiock of Sandpipers near him, on a little 

 grassy place a short distance from the water, and on shooting some of them, found 

 them to be of this species ; the next day, on visiting the same place, he was able to 

 procure others. In travelling thence to San Antonio, in September, he found these 

 birds rather common throughout the whole journey : and he often shot them, finding 

 them excellent eating. They were not shy, and went in flocks of Irom five to twelve 

 in number. They did not resort to the pools, but lived on the small insects found 

 amongst the coarse herbage, which often grows some distance from the water. Near 

 Victoria they were very abundant, but after leaving that town be noticed only a few. 

 At San Antoirio he saw none, but was informed by Dr. Heermann that they are often 

 found there in the spi-ing and autumn. Dr. Merrill also found this species on the 

 Eio Grande, and mentions its frecj^ueuting the same localities and observing the same 

 seasons as the Upland Plover, which it closely resembles in habits, though it is much 

 less shy and suspicious. 



This species has not been detected in California, but Dr. Cooper is confident that 

 it occurs there, at least as far south as San Francisco. It is found sjjaringly north 

 of the Columbia. According to Dr. Heermaim, on the interior jirairies this species 

 feeds on insects, and utters merely a low tweet, two or three times repeated. It runs 

 swiftly and, if alarmed, flies rapidly, making circuitous sweeps before alighting again. 

 This author claims to have found its nest in Texas, made of grasses, placed in a 

 hollow in the ground, and containing four eggs. But as this bird breeds in high 

 northern regions, up to the very borders of the Arctic Ocean, he may have been 

 mistaken in his ideutificatiou. 



It occurs in Cuba, according to Gundlach, as a winter visitant, and probably in 

 other West India islands. It visits Trinidad, where, as Leotaud states, it is known 

 as the Little Yellowleg, and where it makes its a|)pearauce in August, departing in 

 October. It comes regularly, but never in great immbers, and it is almost always in 

 company with the Totanus fldvipes. 



During the winter months it ajjpears to be resident in South America as far south 

 as the Plata, where it was procured by Dr. Darwin. Mr. Salviu received an example 

 from Bogota, and Xatterer obtained examples in various parts of Brazil between No- 

 vember and ^Nlareli. It is also reported from Peru by Messrs. Salvin and Godman. 



It is not of infrecjuent, although of irregular and accidental, occurrence in Europe. 

 Professor Blasius includes it in his List of the Birds of Heligoland ; and Mr. Yarrell 

 records quite a number of instances in which it has been taken in England and Ire- 

 land, where it was noticed among flocks of Dunlins and King Plovers. Vieillot 

 includes it among the birds of France, on account of one having been taken in Pic- 

 ardy. It was first made kno^vn as a species by Vieillot, from a specimen taken in 

 Louisiana, where it had not been noticed by Audubon. It was unknown both to Wil- 

 son and to Bonaparte ; and the first specimen seen b^^ Audubon was one in possession 

 of the Arctic explorer. Captain James Clark Ross, who had received it from a sailor, 

 by whom it had been procured in the coiu'se of one of the numerous inland excursions 

 in the desolate regions from which the party had recently returned. From this Mr. 

 Audubon rightly conjectured that this bird Ijred within the Arctic Circle. Mr. Bernard 

 Boss mentions having found it on the Mackenzie River, where it was quite rare. A 

 single specimen was noticed by jNIr. Frank L. Tileston in Prince Edward's Island, 

 where it was regarded as very uncommon. 



i\Ir. Nelson, in his " Notes on the Birds of Northeastern Illinois," mentions it as a 

 very rare migrant in that region, only one specimen, so far as known, having been 



