BIRDS 379 



marsh, nearer to Floriston than Rockliffe. Mr. C. Murray 

 Adamson says, that, after Heysham's death he examined his 

 birds, and found this Red-breasted Snipe to be in a ruined 

 condition. 



PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 



Tringa maculata, Vieill. 



The autumn of 1888 witnessed the arrival of this nearctic 

 species both upon the eastern coast of England and also in 

 Lakeland. I sent the following letter to the Ibis of January 

 1889 : ' Carlisle, Nov. 9, 1888. — Sir,— I beg leave to state that, 

 on the 18th of October last, three examples of the Pectoral 

 Sandpiper {Tringa maculata) were observed in a grass-meadow 

 near Penrith. Two of the birds were shot. One of them fell 

 into a Snipe-pool and was eaten by rats [our subsequent search 

 only yielded a few feathers] ; the other was safely secured, and 

 within half-an-hour was placed in the hands of my friend Mr. 

 Tandy, a young but zealous ornithologist. The third bird 

 lingered in the neighbourhood until the 2 2d, but escaped 

 scatheless. Mr. Tandy's bird proved on dissection to be ex- 

 ceedingly fat ; its stomach contained the remains of vegetable 

 substances. It is in immature plumage. I may add that Mr. 

 Bidwell and other friends [including Mr. H. Seebohm] have 

 examined the specimen, which is the first authenticated example 

 of the species obtained in the north-west of England.' 



This notice may be supplemented by the remark that Mr. 

 Tandy, being unaware of the rarity of his specimen, proceeded 

 to skin it before I had examined it in the flesh. I saw it, 

 however, while the legs were still quite soft and flexible. The 

 person who shot this bird was Robert Raine of Edenhall. He 

 at first saw two of the birds running over the grass like Dotterel, 

 and took them for that species in the distance. He then flushed 

 them, when they rose in the air, and, wheeling round, dropped 

 into a neighbouring Snipe-pool. He then flushed them again 

 with a third bird which he had not previously seen, and shot two 

 of the three, but lost one in the water. He had no retriever 

 with him, and, as evening was coming on, he went home with 



