20G 
SCOLOPACIDiE. 
always seem to be in excellent condition for the table. In this 
shore feeding, the Jack Snipe do not, like the larger species, 
crouch the moment any danger comes in sight ; accordingly, 
they are much persecuted by the Merlins, which I have repeat- 
edly seen drive them up and then capture them. 
THE CUELEW SANDPIPER 
Tringa siibarquata. 
A pretty constant autumn visitor; the numbers in which it 
arrives, nevertheless, vary considerably. It usually appears 
early in September, mingling freely with Dunlins and Einged 
Plovers; at first seeming partial to low meadows and fresh-water 
lochs, even when some distance inland. Only a very few are 
met with in spring, though occasionally one or two may be 
seen about the end of May, with the summer plumage in an 
advanced state ; but there is no reason to suspect that it ever 
remains to breed. A very beautiful male specimen of this 
bird was brought to me on the 7th of June 1859, by a fisher- 
man who caught it sitting upon the water, about twenty five 
miles north-west of Unst. He said that as the boat rowed up, he 
merely laid the blade of the oar upon the bird, and drew it 
towards him. The weather was perfectly calm at the time. 
The note is something like that of the Dunlin, but it is easily re- 
cognised; the voices of the two species blend together pleasantly 
enough upon the beach at night. The Curlew Sandpipers retire 
late, and are generally also the earliest birds upon the beach; 
that is, when by themselves, for as soon as they mix with the 
Dunlins they seem to cease thinking of their own movements, 
leaving themselves entirely under the direction of their new 
friends. It is nearly always easy to get near them ; except, 
perhaps, when a Eedshank condescends to associate with them, 
and then the getting within eighty yards is next to an impossi- 
bility upon open ground. At high-water they will resort to 
stubble fields near the sea, not for the purpose of feeding, but 
for repose; and at these times they are so little upon the alert 
