SCOLOPACID^. 347 



and we know of no instance of its occurrence on the estuary of the Exe. 

 There is an immature specimen in the Torquay Museum which is labelled 

 " Slapton Lea ;" it is old and rather faded. 



In Cornwall the AVood-Sandpiper is more often obtained, as many as 

 seven having been shot in one day iu the month of August in the Land's 

 End marshes, and others have been met with in April, May, June, 

 and December, Mr. Eodd believing that those shot in the spring might 

 possibly have nested had they been undisturbed. In Dorset, according to 

 Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, this Sandpiper is rare. Mr. Cecil Smith knew of no 

 Somerset Wood-Sandpiper at the time he published his book, but procured 

 two subsequently, which were shot close to Taunton. These birds are 

 before us as we write ; for, having seen them both in the flesh, we were 

 sufficiently interested in them to purchase the case at the sale of Mr. 

 Cecil Smith's collection. "VVe look regretfully at the one in complete 

 summer plumage, which was shot at Chedden on 9th May, 1870, as it 

 might have had a mate, and possibly a nest, at the time it was slaughtered. 

 The other is an example of a young bird in immature plumage. 



Our first eggs of the Wood-Sandpiper were presented to us by our kind 

 old friend Mr. Frederick Bond, at whose house in St. John's Wood it was 

 our privilege to spend many a happy half-holiday in our schoolboy days. 

 We happened to be there one day when Baker of Trumpington Street, 

 Cambridge, arrived from Holland, where he had been collecting eggs, with 

 a large basket full of the beautiful eggs of the Melodious Willow Warbler, 

 Little Bittern, AVood-Sandpiper, &c., and were presented with one or two 

 of each, to our great delight. 



The Wood-Sandpiper places its nest upon the ground in marshes, and, 

 according to Mr. Dresser, is fond of the society of cattle. The Bev. 

 Marcus Eickards has remarked that there is the same musky smell, 

 perhaps more highly intensified, observable in the body of the Wood-Sand- 

 piper as may be detected in that of the Green Sandpiper. Respecting the 

 examjjle of this species shot by him on Braunton Burrows, Mr. Bickards 

 has informed us that it rose with a loud startling whistle, and then 

 dropped like a stone into some reeds, where he watched it standing and 

 vibrating its tail. 



[^Ohservation. — Two examples of a common American Sandpiper, the 

 Solitary Sand]jiper, Totanus solitaritis (Wilson), have been obtained in 

 recent years in the extreme S.W. of the kingdom — one on the Scilly 

 Isles, on 21st September, 1881, which is now in the collection of Mr. 

 Durien-Smith, of Tresco Abbey ; and the other on a marsh near Mara- 

 zion, towards the end of January 1885 ; both were recorded in the 

 'Zoologist ' at the time by Mr. Thomas Cornish, of Penzance (Zool. 1882, 

 J). 432, J 88."), p. 232). Only one other instance of this species had been 

 ])reviously known from the Clyde some few years before. The Solitar}- 

 Tattler, to give it its American name, closely resembles our Wood-Sand- 

 piper, but differs from it in having olive-brown instead of white upj)er 

 tail-covcrts. It makes its appearance in the United States in the spring 

 and fall, and some arc said to breed. Dr. Coucs has given an amusing 



