Brewer.] 252 [October 3. 



of lime and magnesia (tremolite), as it yields even in concentrated 

 solutions only traces of magnesia ; all of which conclusively shows 

 that it is the former and not the latter mineral. 



Notes on the Occurrence of Micropalama himantopus 

 in New England. By Dr. T. M. Brewer. 



The specimen of Stilt Sandpiper, presented by Mr. Geo. H. Mac- 

 kay, besides being a valuable donation to the Society's collection of 

 New England birds, derives an added interest from the fact that it is, 

 without doubt, the first specimen known to have been taken in Mass- 

 achusetts, or in any of the New England States. It was shot by Mr. 

 Mackay on the edge of Farmer's pond, near Phillips Beach, Swamp- 

 scot, in August, 1857 or 1858, probably the latter year. It was, 

 even then, a bird not unknown to the Phillips family, and called by 

 them the " Cross," being supposed to be a hybrid between the Sum- 

 mer Yellow-leg (Gambetta flavipes) and the Spotted Tatler {Tryn- 

 goides macular ius) . They spoke of it as of rare and irregular occur- 

 rence, coming singly or in pairs, and usually in company with the 

 G. flavipes. 



Two or three years later, probably in 1860, Mr. Mackay was in- 

 formed by the younger Mr. Phillips that there had occurred in Au- 

 gust of that year, and in the same locality, a very remarkable flight 

 of this bird, during which nearly two hundred individuals had been 

 secured by members of the Phillips family and sent to market. 

 Although Mr. Mackay has hunted nearly or quite every summer, and 

 about the same time in this vicinity, he has never met with another 

 of this species. 



Dr. Coues, in his catalogue of the Birds of New England, in 1868, 

 refers to it as a bird he confidently expected would occur, but he 

 was not able to refer to any recorded instance of its capture, no 

 public mention of Mr. Mackay's specimen having then been made, 

 though it had then been ten years in the collection of that gentle- 

 man. Mr. Maynard, as recently as 1870, refers to this bird as "very 

 rare — a single specimen captured in autumn by Mr. Wm. Brewster, 

 at Bye Beach, N. H." In a foot-note, Mr. Maynard refers to another 

 taken at the same place August, 1869. 



In the 6th volume of the Am. Naturalist (1873, p. 307), Mr. Wm. 

 Brewster regards this species as by no means rare during its migra- 

 tions, and adds that he has seen as many as six or seven sent into 

 Boston market at one time, said to have been shot on Cape Cod. 



