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naturalist, as follows : — " While riding on the prairies near San Antonio my attention was 

 called to this bird from its being smaller than Bartram's Tatler, which there abounds. It ran 

 nimbly on the ground among the grass in search of insects, uttering, when disturbed, a weak 

 tweet, two or three times repeated. The birds of this genus, unlike the Tringoe (which con- 

 gregate in large flocks, showing a preference for the sea-shore), migrate in small parties, resorting 

 to the freshwater ponds and streams of the interior, or seek their food on the broad grassy plains. 

 They run with great celerity. If alarmed they fly with rapidity, making wide circuitous sweeps 

 before alighting. When wounded they take to the water, swimming with facility, and often 

 diving to escape danger. The nest, formed of grasses, and containing four eggs, is placed on the 

 ground, which has been previously hollowed out. When disturbed during the breeding-season, 

 the female, flying a short distance from her nest, throws herself on the ground, fluttering along 

 as if wounded, and thus decoys the intruder into following her away. Once at a safe distance 

 she takes to wing, returning to her home by a circuitous route." I have given the above notes 

 in extenso, but may remark that there is some mistake in the portion relative to the nidification 

 of the present species, which does not breed in Texas, or, indeed, so far as I can ascertain, in 

 any part of the United States. During the time I spent at San Antonio in 1863 and 1864, in 

 company with Dr. Heermann, we never saw the Buff-breasted Sandpiper there ; and he told me 

 that he had not observed it for several seasons. 



Dr. Elliott Coues sends me the following notes respecting the present species: — "This 

 remarkable Sandpiper I have never seen alive to my knowledge ; and what little original infor- 

 mation I have to offer you relates mainly to its breeding-range (as determined by the data in the 

 Smithsonian Institution) and to its eggs, of which almost nothing has until lately been learned. 

 The general habits of the bird, as described, together with the nature of its resorts, and its food, 

 appear to be much the same as those of the Bartraman Tatler, which is, upon the whole, its next 

 nearest ally after T. parvirostris, Peale. In the United States, where it appears to be nowhere 

 abundant, though it is generally diffused, it is known only as a migrant. Great numbers nest 

 in the Anderson-river region and along the arctic coast, as attested by the series of eggs collected 

 by Macfarlane. I have examined altogether about a dozen sets in the Smithsonian collection. 

 They are very pointedly pyriform, with broadly obtuse great ends. In size they vary as follows, 

 viz. 1-50 xl'03, 1-48 xlTO, 1-45 xl"02, 1-40 xl"04. The ground is clay-coloured, sometimes 

 with a slight ochraceous shade, oftener with a peculiar clear greyish cast. The markings are 

 extremely bold and sharp, though not heavier than usual. Taking a distinctly marked sample, we 

 observe heavy blotches and spots of indeterminate shape and size all over the egg, but largest and 

 closest on the major half; these markings are rich umber-brown, of varying intensity according 

 to the quantity of the pigment. Next to these heavily blotched vai'ieties come the splashed ones, 

 in which the markings mass about the great end, only small spots being elsewhere spattered ; this 

 is a frequent pattern, which in some cases entirely hides the ground-colour at the larger end. 

 Other examples are spotted (almost streaked) with rather narrow markings, that seem to radiate 

 from the large end, becoming largest and thickest about the middle of the egg. All eggs have 

 the usual neutral-tint or stone-grey shell-markings ; and in most specimens there are at the large 

 end a few scrawls of blackish, as if laid over all the other markings. The labels state no 



