NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. . 79 



September 23rd, 1848. — Returning from the post office 

 this afternoon I distinctly heard the well-known note of the 

 Big Yellow Legs (Totanus vociferus) as this bird passed 

 over the town. 



September 2$th, 1848. — Hunted every part of the 

 Governor's Marsh for a small bird which I observed yester- 

 day perched upon the tops of the tall seed-stems of the 

 reedy grass that abounds there. Saw nothing of it, or 

 indeed of any other visitant. Met Mr. Wedderburn on my 

 return from the Marsh, and was shown a beautiful specimen 

 of the Esquimaux Curlew {Numenius borealis) of Audubon. 

 It measured thirteen inches in length ; bill, two inches long 

 and slender. Shaft of the first or longest quill feather, 

 white, the rest gradually shaded to brown. Legs, dark 

 lead or slate colour. This is the first Esquimaux Curlew 

 I have examined in Bermuda. Mr. Wedderburn had also 

 shot at Spanish Point three Golden Plover — all of them 

 white on the lower parts — one Sanderling, and two Turn- 

 stones. He reports having fired at a very large species of 

 Tern. 



September 27th, 1848. — Mr. Wedderburn called this 

 morning, and informed me he had seen a specimen of the 

 Hudsonian Curlew {Numenius hudsonicus) of Audubon, in 

 the possession of the Rev. H. B. Tristram, at Ireland Island, 

 to whom it was presented by Lieutenant McLeod, 42nd 

 Regiment, who shot it yesterday in the neighbourhood of 

 St. George's. 



September 28tk. — Mr. Wedderburn writes me word that 

 on his return to the dockyard yesterday (blowing hard at 

 the time from the south-west) a large bird was seen to enter 



