113 



says (Orn. U. S. ii. p. 113), "in some seasons not uncommon in the market of Boston in the 

 months of August and September, being met with near the capes of Massachusett's Bay. My 

 friend Mr. Cooper has also obtained specimens from the vicinity of New York." Dr. Coues 

 states that in the United States it is nowhere very abundant, and this is particularly the case 

 along the Atlantic coast. In Texas, however, I found it rather numerous than otherwise during 

 passage in the autumn, and shot many specimens both in Mexico and Texas. It was also 

 obtained in Bermuda by Canon Tristram, and in Cuba by Dr. Gundlach. In South America it 

 has been met with as far south as the Plata, where it was obtained by Dr. Darwin on the voyage 

 of the 'Beagle.' Mr. Salvin has lent me a specimen from Bogota; and Von Pelzeln states (I. c.) 

 that Natterer obtained it in Brazil, at Ypanema, Lagoa do Portao, at some little distance from 

 the water's edge, in November, in Matogrosso in October, at Borba in April, and at Marabitanas 

 in March. Messrs. Salvin and Godman have specimens from Eastern Peru; and, as above stated, 

 Darwin met with it in Monte Video. 



My first acquaintance with this beautiful and rare Wader was made at Matamoras, in 

 Mexico. I used to visit a small lagoon near the town almost every morning in order to pick up 

 any good birds that might be there, and on the 21st August, 1863, when, as usual, I went to the 

 lagoon, I saw a small flock of birds which were quite unknown to me on a little patch of grass 

 near the lagoon, but not in a damp place ; and on shooting four specimens (which I succeeded in 

 doing without much trouble, for they were very tame and unsuspicious), I was delighted to find 

 that they were Buff-breasted Sandpipers. I had my field-glass with me ; and as I soon succeeded 

 in approaching within a tolerably short distance of them, I had an excellent opportunity of 

 observing them. Some days later I travelled with a friend from Matamoras to San Antonio de 

 Bexar, in Texas, by short stages, as we drove the same horses right through, and we halted 

 several times during the day both to rest the horses and to forage after food ; for we trusted to 

 my gun to supply the larder ; and, I am glad to add, we were seldom on short rations. During 

 the first three or four days, whilst passing through the sandy arid country, we met with con- 

 siderable numbers of Buff-breasts ; and for three days, at least, we lived chiefly on these dainty 

 birds — which were as fat as they could be, and, split up and fried in their own fat in the pan over 

 the camp-fire, made a most delicious morsel. We generally met with them in small flocks of 

 from five or six to a dozen individuals, never near or on the edge of water, though in some 

 places there were small ponds which swarmed with Waders ; but they frequented the grassy 

 places, if any such were to be found, or were seen running along in an irregular wavy line on 

 the road or track made by the cotton-teams. They were unsuspicious and unwary, and could be 

 shot with ease. When fired at, the survivors would fly off to some distance and then alight and 

 run about in search of insects as if nothing had happened. On the wing they somewhat 

 resembled a Ring-Plover, and not so much Bartram's Sandpiper, to which this species is other- 

 wise so closely allied in its general habits and in the nature of the ground it frequents, except that 

 it is more frequently seen on dry almost grassless soil, whereas I have never met with Bartram's 

 Sandpiper except on the grassy plains. Its call-note is low and weak, and is repeated several 

 times in succession, either as it trips along or else as it rises to fly away. Dr. Heermann states 

 that he has found it frequenting the freshwater ponds and streams, which I have never done. 

 He writes in the ' Report of the Railway Survey,' on which he held the appointment of 



