67 



northern coast of the Great Nicobar ; and this was the only time I saw it. From October to 

 April this species is common ; but we also have specimens shot in June and July, neither of 

 which are in full summer plumage, though birds killed at the end of April in India are already 

 in full summer plumage." 



Mr. Gould says (Handb. B. of Austr. ii. p. 256) that he possesses three specimens from 

 Australia, one of which was killed on Rottnest Island, another on the mainland of Western 

 Australia, and the third at Port Macquarie, in New South Wales. He adds that they do not in 

 the least differ from European examples. 



In America it is only known as a rare and accidental straggler to the west coast. Dr. Brewer 

 writes to me respecting its occurrence in the United States as follows : — " The Curlew Sandpiper 

 is of rare occurrence in America, and is actually known to have been taken in so few localities, 

 and. in so small a number of instances, that we can only regard it in the light of a straggler. 

 Only about twenty instances are recorded of individuals taken in America, nearly all of which 

 were procured near New York city. Mr. Boardman reports three from St. Andrews, on the 

 St. Croix; Mr. Maynard has taken one at Ipswich, Mass., for a while the only one recorded 

 from New England ; Mr. Girard has obtained two or three in the New-York market, from Long 

 Island ; and Mr. J. G. Bell, the taxidermist, in the course of many years, has obtained seven or 

 eight from the same source. Three or four others are reported, also from Long Island. Mr. 

 Audubon met with three individuals only in the course of his life, one shot near Sandy Hook, 

 Long Island, the other two in New Jersey in 1829. They are always, or very nearly so, single 

 solitary individuals that are thus captured. In May 1876, a second New-England specimen was 

 shot in East Boston. It was in full spring plumage, as was one of the three recorded by 

 Mr. Boardman." 



In habits the present species differs inappreciably from the Dunlin, with which species it 

 frequently associates in the same flock. I have often shot them on our shores, and could never 

 detect any material difference in habits between the two species, and have sometimes found them 

 consorting together, and at others in separate flocks. Its call, however, differs from that of the 

 Dunlin ; and when on the wing the present species is usually recognizable at once by its white 

 rump. 



Its nesting-habits are as yet quite unknown ; and, so far as I can ascertain, no authentic eggs 

 of the Pygmy Curlew are known to exist in any collection. There appears, however, little doubt 

 that it breeds in North Russia, both on the European side of the Ural and in many parts of 

 North Asia. Dr. Otto Finsch informs me that he found it breeding on the tundras of the Ob, 

 and procured young birds in down, but did not preserve them. 



Badeker figures eggs as those of this species, which he received from Mr. J. C. H. Fischer ; 

 but Mr. Fischer writes (Naturh. Tids. i. pp. 132, 133) that these eggs were brought to him in 

 Vendsyssel, Denmark, in 1859, without any particulars, and he was unable to determine to 

 which species they were referable. He therefore sent them to Badeker to ask his opinion about 

 them ; and not long after, to his astonishment, he saw them figured in Badeker's work as eggs 

 of the Pygmy Curlew. 



The specimens figured are an adult bird, in full summer dress, in the foreground, and an 

 adult, in winter plumage, in the background, both being the birds above described. 



