o36 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



rapid for so small a bird, and struck me as being something like tliat of 

 the Common Sandpiper, which bird (except as regai'ds the vibratory 

 motion of the body peculiar to that species) it somewhat resembled in its 

 movements when on the ground. It always flew away across the water 

 out of sight and at a great height, but it invariably returned to the same 

 spot where I had first observed it" (Zool. 18(39, p. 1920; 1870, p. 2025). 

 "VVe have frequently seen and examined this specimen of the American 

 Stint, which we believe to be now in the collection of the Hon. W. lloth- 

 schiiri. Mr. liickards states that south-westerly gales had been prevailing 

 about the time he shot the bird. Mr. Gould supposed this specimen to be 

 Trlnija vilsonii, but it was identified as T. minutiUa by Mr. Harting 

 (Handbook of E. 1 irds, p. 143). The Cornish example was shot by 

 Mr. Yingoe, the well-known bird-stuffer of Penzance, in Mount's Bay, on 

 October 10th, 1853. It was solitary when found on a piece of wet grass- 

 land adjoiiiiug the sea-shore, and rose without any note, and was at once 

 submitted to Mr. llodd, who has carefully described the points of difterence 

 it ju'csents from the other two species of Stint. 



The American Stiut breeds plentifully in Labrador, where it goes by 

 the name of " Peep," and is the smallest of the three species of Stint 

 which have been met with in this kingdom. 



Curlew Sandpiper. Tringa subarquata (Giild.). 



[Pigmy Curlew.] 



A passing visitor in spring and autumn, of frequent occurrence at the 

 latter season on the mud-banks in the estuaries of our larger rivers and 

 on the sandy shores of the sea-coast, both in the north and south of the 

 county. It is not uncommon in September in the Exe estuarj', and is, 

 or was, especially numerous in that of the Taw. 



Xext to the Dunlin tliis elegant Sandpiper is the most numerous species 

 in the Barnstaple river in the autumn, where a few arrive at the end of 

 Jiily and during August, while numbers appear in September, and by the 

 middle of October all have left to pursue their way further to the south. 

 "\^'hon feeding on the sands in company with other Tr'mgce, the Curlew 

 Sandpiper may be recognized by its longer legs and more upright 

 carriage ; and when it takes wing its white upper tail-coverts at once 

 make its presence apparent. On the West-Appledore flats we have seen 

 flocks of a hundred or more of these birds ; and the llev. Marcus liickards 

 has informed us of a great concourse he once met in the same localitv, 

 v.hen he thought there must have been well-nigh a thousand assembled 

 together. One of these Sandpipers shot by us on the Taw, close to Barn- 

 staple, on August 14th, 1850, was in almost complete summer plumage, 

 and others we have obtained at the beginning of September had still patches 

 of red upon the breast, with rufous margins to the scapularies ; but by far 

 the greater number seen in the autumn were birds of the year, with their 

 underparts of a huffy white, and their upper parts grey with semicircular 

 white edgings to the feathers. Mr. Spencer Heaven one year shoe a pair 



