GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 213 



ninety per cent.) are birds of the year, and new to the road. That 

 the Spotted Sandpiper has visited the British Islands there can 

 be no doubt. I will go further, and say that it is probable the bird 

 comes here much more frequently than is supposed ; but it 

 reaches us in first winter plumage, with white unspotted under- 

 parts, when it bears so close a resemblance to the Common Sand- 

 piper of the Old World that ninety-nine men out of a hundred 

 upon shooting one would declare it to be of the British species, 

 and not worth preserving. Until the present autumn (1891), I 

 was under the impression that the Spotted Sandpiper could be 

 readily distinguished from its Old World ally by having all the 

 secondaries uniformly barred. During the month of August I 

 shot an example of a Sandpiper in Tor Bay, which appeared to 

 comply with these conditions, and I thought we had got a 

 genuine Spotted Sandpiper at last. I sent the bird to Mr. 

 Seebohm, and he very kindly compared it with a large series of 

 both species, but he has informed me after careful examination 

 that he feels convinced this example is only a Common Sand- 

 piper. The character of the barred secondaries appears there- 

 fore to be unreliable ; and failing this, I know of no other by 

 which Spotted Sandpipers can be distinguished from Common 

 Sandpipers in winter plumage, or in that of birds of the year. 

 The character of pale legs and feet (in the flesh), I think, is 

 common to both, and I do not attach much importance to the 

 streaked or unstreaked lower throat and breast, although I have 

 given it as a diagnostic character— drowning men will clutch at 

 straws ! and bewildered ornithologists are often very glad to seize 

 even the most shady character, rather than be left with none. I 

 am, however, still disposed to regard my example as belonging 

 10 the American species. It appears that Mr. Seebohm suc- 

 ceeded in finding out of a large series, only one other specimen 

 similar to mine, shot at Brighton, and which I am inclined to 

 refer also to T. mandarins, which will then avert the difficulty of 

 the secondaries not being a constant character. This seems to 

 me the most logical treatment of the case, at least until more 

 information is obtained on the subject of specific distinction 

 (Conf. Ibis, 1892, p. 97). Foreign: Nearctic region; northern 

 Neotropical region in winter. Breeds throughout the United 



