1877.] 255 [Brewer. 



Mr. George A. Boardman, who for many years past, both in the 

 spring and in the autumn, has diligently hunted on the coast and 

 estuaries of eastern Maine, has sought for this bird, but has never 

 met with it, and all his enquiries have satisfied him that it is un- 

 known to that region. None of the hunters or gunners know the 

 bird. As the marshes in the vicinity of St. Andrew are regarded 

 as among the finest hunting-places for shore-birds on our coast, and 

 as these have been thoroughly searched in vain, it would seem to be 

 established as far as negative testimony can ever establish anything, 

 that this bird does not occur in the waters of eastern Maine or New 

 Brunswick. 



Nearer the centre of the coast of Maine, at Schooner Head, Mt. 

 Desert, a small colony of young hunters have, for four summers, kept 

 a sharp look out for this bird. In its search they have ransacked the 

 beaches and marshes of the head of Frenchman's Bay, in Sullivan, 

 Gouldsboro, and elsewhere. They have carefully preserved speci- 

 mens of all the birds they could procure. But this species has never 

 been seen or heard of by them on that part of the coast. 



Mr. Frank L. Tileston (Tileston & Hollingsworth) and Mr. Wm. 

 Everett (Williams & Everett), both enthusiastic and active sports- 

 men, have for many years hunted shore birds on various parts of the 

 New England coast, usually in company, on the north shore, or the 

 south shore, and in various parts of Cape Cod. More recently they 

 have explored the coast of Prince Edwards Island. Mr. Tileston,. 

 though he knows the bird, has never yet met with a single specimen. 

 Mr. Everett has met with it in Ipswich and in different parts of Cape 

 Ann, but no where else. In one instance he fired into a flock, about 

 half and half , Jlavipes and this species, shooting three of the latter, 

 one of which he has in his collection of shore birds. He thinks there 

 may have been twelve of each kind in the flock. But on Cape Cod, 

 in Orleans, Dennis, Yarmouth, Chatham, Truro, and other towns, he 

 has not only never met with this bird but has been unable to satisfy 

 himself that it has ever been taken by any other gunner. For the 

 most part the gunners do not know the bird, and have never seen it,, 

 and wherever any one has claimed to have shot" something similar,, 

 the evidence has always been vague and unsatisfactory. In Prince 

 Edwards Island the bird is wholly unknown. Neither Mr. Tileston 

 nor Mr. Everett met with it, nor could they ascertain that it had 

 been known ever to occur there. 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. XIX. 17 FEBRUARY, 1878. 



