928 Birds. 



this little bird. When a boy, the summer snipe was a favorite mark ; 

 and having one day shot at one, it dropped close to the edge of a con- 

 siderable rapid of the river Uske. There it lay, with wings expanded, 

 dead, or nearly so, as I supposed ; but on my approaching to pick it 

 up, it scrambled into the water, and in an instant, under it went, to 

 my amazement ; and for several feet could I distinguish it, making its 

 way directly across a stream so rapid, that though only knee-deep, I 

 could not have stood in it. I saw it no more. 



Early in September the number of sandpipers on the sea-shore in- 

 creases ; I have counted as many as fourteen in a flock : and towards 

 the end of the month they take their departure. 



The Greenshank is met with occasionally. I have in my posses- 

 sion the shanks of one, shot, in 1841, on a pond at Winson, in the 

 parish of Godshill ; and another bird in my possession was killed by 

 Mr. H. Dennett, at Newtown, in August, 1844. 



The Bar-tailed Godwit is to be met with in the spring. May 8, 

 1841, one was brought me that had been struck down into the sea by 

 a peregrine ; and on the following day, my friend, the Rev. J. F. 

 Dawson, obtained another. Both these birds had attained nearly 

 their full summer plumage ; only a few light feathers remaining upon 

 the ferruginous breast. A female, shot in Sandown Bay, May 18, 

 1844, now in my possession, had scarcely commenced the change; 

 while in two birds procured about the same time at Yarmouth, the 

 change was beautifully complete. A third bird, in the possession of 

 Mr. Butler, was in winter costume ; but I omitted to make a note of 

 the date of its death. 



The Ruff. Mr. Butler informed me he once obtained a pair, and 

 in winter. In August, 1844, a reeve, shot at Newtown, was sent me 

 by Mr. H. Dennett. 



The Woodcock, though pretty generally distributed over the island, 

 is seldom abundant ; occasionally, however, in the spring, flights ap- 

 pear to drop on their way out of the country. I heard of forty wood- 

 cocks being found one day, in the spring of 1844, in Parkhurst Forest. 

 The woodcock has been known to breed not unfrequently in the 

 island. At Swainston, the seat of Sir R. Simeon, Bart., are preserved 

 an old bird and four young ones, found by one of the keepers in April 

 1834, in a wood between Swainston and the sea. In the same year, 

 Mr. Simeon informs me, a nest with eggs, which, he believes, were 

 hatched, and the brood safely reared, was found in Parkhurst Forest. 

 Mr. Simeon further states, that " a Mr. Robinson, who was formerly a 

 resident in the island, had, in his collection of birds, woodcocks in 



