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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



AVES. 



Egyptian Nightjar (Caprimulgus asgyptius, Licht.) in Malta. — 

 On March Idtli I found at the Valletta Market a specimen of this 

 rare bird. It was taken the day before by a sportsman from 

 Binghisa. This is the third specimen which I have seen in the flesh ; 

 the other two were taken at "Wied Zembak in the spring of 1911 by 

 Dr. G. Cachia Zammit. Besides these, I know of nine other 

 specimens taken in the island, three of which are in the collection of 

 Colonel J. L. Erancia, who found them, together with three other 

 specimens, in the Market during the spring about ten or twelve years 

 ago. Another specimen, which is unfortunately in a very bad state 

 of preservation, is to be seen in our Natural History Museum. As 

 with many other specimens, this bears no data ; it might be, however, 

 one of the three specimens mentioned by Giglioli in the ' Iconografia 

 deir Avifauna Italica,' June 11th, 1879, which, according to Dr. A. A. 

 Caruana, were taken in the island during the spring of 1876. Very 

 probably Dresser alludes to these three specimens when, in Part 1 

 of his ' Manual of Palsearctic Birds,' p. 435, he says that the species 

 has occurred three times at Malta. — G. Despott. 



Eartram's Sandpiper in Ireland. — A few years ago, my cousin, 

 the late Mr. J. S. Ellis, of Wardhouse, Co. Leitrim, asked me to 

 examine a bird which he had shot some time previously. I recog- 

 nised it as probably being a Bartram's Sandpiper, and on a further 

 examination it proved to be certainly of this species. Mr. Ellis gave 

 me full particulars about it. He shot it at Bunduff, Co. Leitrim, in 

 November, 1901, as well as he could remember, in a field quite close 

 to the sea. He showed me the exact spot, and described the curious 

 tameness of the bird, which would suggest that it had recently 

 arrived. When I first saw it, it was in an unfortunate condition. It 

 had been sent to be mounted by some third-rate man, and had 

 suffered at his hands. In addition to this, Mr. Ellis had taken it 

 from him, on account of delay, before the work was completed, and 

 it was still covered with the taxidermist's threads. It has since come 

 into my possession, and everything possible has been done to preserve 

 it, but much of the damage was irreparable. In the case of so rare a 



