6 



are quite unknown ; but it appears that it must breed in the more boreal portions of North-east 

 Europe and North-western Asia. I hoped that Mr. Seebohm would find it breeding on the 

 Lower Jenesei ; but unfortunately he did not succeed in so doing, and it is difficult to say when 

 there will be another chance of obtaining the long-sough t-for eggs of this bird. 



It does not appear to occur in either Greenland or Iceland ; but it is by no means a rare 

 bird on the shores of Great Britain, occurring usually in the late summer and autumn, and 

 almost always in immature dress. It is also met with, but much more rarely, in the spring of 

 the year. All along the south coast of England it is tolerably common in the autumn ; and I 

 used frequently to shoot specimens near Hastings and at Rye Harbour, in Sussex ; indeed one day, 

 when collecting at the latter place, Mr. E. Booth, now of Brighton, and myself shot sixteen or 

 seventeen of these birds, besides many other good waders. They were both in small parties 

 apart from the other shore-birds, and also mixed with Dunlins, and were by no means so very 

 tame, but rather shy than otherwise. Writing on its occurrence in Norfolk, Mr. Stevenson says 

 (B. of Norf. ii. p. 350), it is " not unfrequently met with on our coast both in spring and autumn, 

 and more particularly in the latter season. From my observations more specimens seem to be 

 obtained in September and October than at any other time." Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in 

 their ' Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds,' remark (1825), " Several of these birds have been 

 killed at Yarmouth in the autumn. One of them which was shot at that place in the month of 

 August had a red breast, and was in plumage similar to the one in a summer dress preserved in 

 the British Museum. We have met with this species on Pewit Island. It is more solitary than 

 the Dunlin, not more than a pair being seen together, and is a stupid bird, suffering a boat to 

 approach close to it." Mr. Cordeaux says that he has met with it in the Humber district in the 

 spring, but more commonly in the autumn ; but it is, on the whole, not common there. And 

 Hancock writes that in Northumberland and Durham it is an autumn visitant, common on the 

 shores in September ; and he adds that he never saw an adult bird obtained there, all being in 

 immature dress. 



On the coasts of Scotland it is not a rare visitant, occurring most frequently in the autumn. 

 Mr. Robert Gray writes (B. of West of Scotl. p. 317) as follows : — " Mr. Graham states that this 

 species is found occasionally in Iona and Mull ; and it is likewise sparingly distributed along the 

 shores of Argyle and Ayr, being especially noticeable in early autumn, when the migratory flocks 

 return from their breeding-quarters. Small flocks have also been seen, and specimens obtained, 

 on the banks of the Forth, near Grangemouth, by Mr. Harvie-Brown. In East Lothian the 

 Curlew-billed Sandpiper is met with in small numbers on the banks of the Tyne. Many years 

 ago, when rambling along the sands at the mouth of the river, I noticed a man and a boy, with 

 a horse and cart, stalking Dunlins and other small shore-birds. The pony had been trained to 

 walk slowly towards a group of birds, while the owner lay concealed in the cart ready to fire his 

 long-barrelled gun over the side ; and after waiting until I had seen him literally mow clown a 

 flock, I had an opportunity of turning over the contents of his bag, in which I found a fair 

 proportion of this species of Sandpiper. On the 9th of May, 1870, I observed on the shore at 

 the ' Vaults,' near Dunbar, a large flock of Curlew Sandpipers flying in circles, as if disturbed, 

 just above the sea-margin at low tide. I was at once attracted by their musical twitterings, 

 uttered while the flock was on the wing, and sounding like a concert of tiny whistles. The birds 



