Birds. 



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are found abundantly in the great plains of Tartary beyond the Great Wall, where 

 they breed in the sand. — jR. Swinhoe, in 1 Ihis.' 



Quail shot near Beverley. — About the middle of last month (September) a very- 

 well-marked male specimen of the quail was shot by Mr. Harland, farmer, of Holme, 

 near Beverley, upon his own farm. I saw it in the flesh at Mr. R. Richardson's, bird- 

 stuffer, of Beverley, into whose able hands it has been entrusted for preservation. The 

 last quails seen or shot near Beverley, to ray knowledge, were a pair, male and female, 

 shot by Mr. Kemp, gamekeeper, near Beverley, five years ago, and now in my col- 

 lection.— W. W, Boulton; Beverley, October 1, 1863. 



Occurrence of Temminck's Stint at Scilly. — This little Tringa has made its 

 autumnal appearance at the Scilly Isles, and I dare say may now be pretty generally 

 found in its winter plumage in our estuaries. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, Sep- 

 tember 10, 1863. 



The Spotted Redshank (Totanus fuscus) in Cornwall. — A specimen of a young bird 

 of the year of this elegant sandpiper was killed near St. Austell last week ; others I 

 observe have been obtained in different English counties this autumn, and I heard of 

 one having been seen at Scilly this week. The visits of this species are rare, and at 

 long, or rather uncertain, intervals in this county, and therefore, as an interesting spe- 

 cies, their occurrence perhaps deserves a simple record. — Id. 



Ruff (Machetes pugn ax) shot near Beverley. — A very beautiful specimen of the 

 ruff was brought to me this day by Mrs. W. Simpson, of Aike, near Beverley. It was 

 shot last evening (September 23), by her husband, Win. Simpson, on the Barmston 

 Drain, close to the village of Aike. The bird was alone, and on dissection has proved 

 to be a male without the frill. It is about ten or twelve years since a specimen of the 

 ruff has been captured or seen in this highly-cultivated district, to my knowledge. 

 Both specimens are now in my own collection. — W. W. Boulton ; September 24. 



Reeves in the Isle of Wight. — On the 18th of May two of the above birds were shot 

 here in a very interesting state of plumage, just changing from the winter to the sum- 

 mer dress. On Saturday, the 3rd of October, I obtained two others ; these are very 

 different from those I obtained in May, having lost all the summer plumage, except a 

 tinge of yellowish gray on the breast. These birds are a new and interesting addition 

 to our Isle-of-Wight Avifauna. — H. Rogers ; Freshvjater, Isle of Wight, October 9. 



The Curlew Sandpiper near Yarmouth. — In your notices, at different times, of the 

 capture of rare birds, I have only once or twice observed the occurrence of the curlew 

 sandpiper. As I am inclined to believe that this is rather an uncommon, or at all 

 events a local species, a note of two specimens obtained lately at Yarmouth, may per- 

 haps be interesting. On the last day of September I was hunting on Breydon Water, 

 Yarmouth, when I observed a solitary sandpiper feeding with some gulls upon a mud- 

 flat. The gulls all took wing long before I was within shot, but the sandpiper 

 allowed me to approach within forty yards before rising, when I shot it. It uttered 

 two sharp notes, not unlike a dunlin, for which bird I at first mistook it ; but the white 

 tail-coverts and somewhat longer wings distinguished it at once from that species. On 

 picking it up I found it to be an old bird in an intermediate state of plumage, having 

 just a tinge of chesnut on the breast, and still retaining the rich markings on the back 

 peculiar to the summer plumage. It proved afterwards, on dissection, to be a male, 

 and I found the stomach filled with remains of small worms, coleopterous insects, and 

 a few minute pebbles. The second specimen, a handsome male bird in nearly full 

 summer plumage, I purchased the following day from a man who killed it, at the same 



