158 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



60. Arquatella maritima (Briinn.). 



Purple Sandpiper. 



Accidental visitor in autumn. 



On October 30, 1871, Mr. H. W. Henshaw shot a Purple Sandpiper^ at 

 the extreme end of Whittemore Point (since obHterated by the filHng of the 

 neighboring fiats and marshes), Cambridgeport. This record is likely to long 

 remain the only one for the Cambridge Region, as the species to which it relates 

 is rarely met with out of sight or sound of the open ocean, at least in New Eng- 

 land. 



Purple Sandpipers used to occur regularly in winter — and probably do so 

 still — on the Pig Rocks off Swampscott, Massachusetts. I found a flock of 

 fifteen there on January 3, 1881, and killed several specimens, which are pre- 

 served in my collection. Mr. W. A. Jeffries tells me that some of the birds 

 which frequent these small, ledgy islands are accustomed to visit the shores of 

 the neighboring mainland during stormy weather, when he has repeatedly seen 

 them feeding among the rocks on Marblehead Neck. 



61. Actodromas maculata (Vieill.). 

 Pectoral Sandpiper. Grass Bird. 



Transient visitor in autumn, formerly not uncommon. 



seasonal occurrence. 

 October 5 — 20. 



The Pectoral Sandpiper or Grass Bird, as it is usually called by the gunners, 

 used to visit us very regularly and at times rather plentifully, in autumn, resort- 

 ing chiefly to the salt or brackish marshes along Charles River between Whitte- 

 more Point and the Watertown Arsenal. It also occurred sparingly in the fresh- 

 water meadows bordering Alewife Brook immediately to the northward of the 



' This specimen was preserved and is now, I believe, in the British Museum. 



