Catalogue of the Birds of Connecticut. 265 



Order Grallje. 



Family Charadridm. 



177. Charadrius semipalmatus, Bona., Ring Plover, Stratford. 

 *178. C. melodus, Bona., Piping Plover, Stratford. 



179. C. pluvialis, Wilson, Golden Plover, Stratford. 



180. C. Wilsonius, Ord, Wilson's Plover, Stratford. 



181. C. vociferus, Linn., Kill Deer, Stratford. 



182. C. Helveticus, Bona., Black-bellied Plover, Stratford. 

 *183. Hematopus polliatus, Aud., American Oyster Catcher, 



Stratford. 



184. Strepsilus interpres, Illiger, Turn Stone, Stratford. 



Family GruidcB. 



185. Ardea Herodias, Wilson, Great Heron, Stratford. 

 *186. A. Egretta, Gmelin, Great White Heron, Stratford. 

 *187. A. candidissima, Gmelin, Snowy Heron, Stratford. 

 188. A. coerulea. Linn., Blue Heron, Stratford. 



*189. A. Nycticorax, Wilson, Night Heron, Stratford. 

 *190. A. minor, Wilson, American Bittern, Stratford. 



191. A. virescens, Linn., Green Heron, Stratford. 



192. A. exilis, Gmelin, Least Bittern, Northford. 



*173. C. melodus, though a rare bird, breeds in this town near the shore of the 

 Sound. 



*183. The oyster catcher is now rare here, but fifteen years since they were not 

 very uncommon in autumn. 



*]86. The egretta (alba of Bona.) is inserted upon the authority of Audubon, 

 who saw it in Massachusetts, and as it is south and west of us, we are evidently 

 entitled to an occasional call. 



*187. I once saw a beautiful white heron in a salt marsh in this village, which 

 I did not obtain, but supposed it to be the candidissima of Gmelin and Wilson. 



*189. The night heron (or squalker as it is called here) breeds abundantly in 

 our swamps, and a few years since it was quite an object to hunt for the nests, in 

 order to obtain the eggs, with which lads would easily fill their hats, and thus 

 afford a fine meal for a family. 



*190. I obtained a fine specimen of the American bittern two years since, which 

 had previously given great alarm to many of our inhabitants by its peculiarly 

 doleful and mournful sounds at evening. One man who was laboring near the 

 swamp, it is said, ran a mile in the greatest consternation, alleging that " the d — 1 

 was after him." It is also stated by several of our most respectable inhabitants, 

 that forty seven years since, one hundred men united in a company on the Sabbath, 

 to traverse this swamp, and succeeded in killing one of these same birds, and that 

 their sounds have not been heard in the town since, until the former instance oc- 

 curred which secured a specimen to me. Goldsmith has very happily expressed 

 the booming of the bittern. " It is impossible (he says) for words to give any ad- 



Vol. xliv, No. 2.— Jan.-March, 1843. 34 



