Examples in tlie rich reel plumage of the breeding-season are oecasionally met with either late in spring or 
on their return from their breeding-grounds at the close of summer. Yarrell, who was well acquainted with 
our Norfolk coast, says: — ‘I have obtained this bird in June, in the height of its summer plumage, from 
Norfolk, and have seen the young from the same locality early in July.’ There is, of course, no reason to 
suppose that this species has ever remained to breed in this country ; and the young birds above referred to 
must have commenced their southward passage thus early with their parents, which supposition agrees with 
the statement of Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, that they arrive ‘ about the end of July.’ ” 
Macgillivray, writing of the bird in Scotland, says : — Although this species is very uncommon along our 
shores, it is probably not of so very rare occurrence as it is generally supposed to be, inattentive observers 
and sportsmen being apt to confound it with the Dunlin. It arrives in small flocks on the shores of the 
Firth of Forth in the beginning of September, and is occasionally met with at the mouth of the Esk, at 
Musselburgh. Generally mingling with the Dunlins, it is hardly distinguishable from them, but when seen 
apart is observed to have precisely the same habits as to its mode of searching the sands and mud for food, 
which it does by walking or running according to occasion, and patting or probing in them for small worms 
and other marine animals, along with which it swallows fragments of quartz and other mineral substances. 
Its flight is rapid and light; its ordinary cry a shrill scream, differing from the cry of the Dunlin.” 
Thompson says it is a regular autumnal migrant to the north of Ireland, where in winter it is of rare 
occurrence. September is its favourite month in Belfast Bay : the earliest arrival noted is the 25th of 
August; before the end of September its departure is usually taken; and it rarely remains until the end 
of October. 
“The numbers vary much in different years. In 1838 they were remarkably scarce. In the autumn of 
1837 they were more common than usual, and numbers were shot; a flock of about twenty was once seen, 
and out of a party of eight six were killed at one discharge. My Informant distinguishes this species from 
the Dunlin, when on the ground, by its superior size — in flight, from the lower part of the back being white 
— or by its call, which is very different from that of its congener, and is said more to resemble that of the 
Turnstone than of other shore-birds. In 1839 they were more plentiful than ever before known, and arrived 
before the ordinary time, a couple having been shot on the 2nd of September. On the 7th of that month 
a flock of from thirty to forty appeared; and they increased until the 21st, when not less than a hundred 
were seen in company with a large body of Dunlins, though generally, when a number are together, they do 
not associate with other species. Occasionally about fifty or sixty would rise together from one extremity 
of the flock, and, after flying about for a short time, would alight with the others. The noise produced 
by their calls, especially when on wing, was very great. This large body subsequently proved to have been 
collected together for migration, as they took their departure on that day from the bay, and not one was 
seen again during that season. They usually keep to the shores of the bay; but in 1836 they frequented 
the river Lagan, within flow of the tide at high water, in flocks. On the 6th of the latter month I 
observed nine in company busily feeding at the edge of the river at Ormeau Bridge ; in the following year 
also, they frequented the tidal portion of the river.” 
Mr. Wright states that the Curlew Sandpiper is common in spring and autumn in Malta; Lord Lllford, 
that it occurs in Corfu occasionally in great numbers, and generally in full breeding-plumage, about the end 
of May ; Mr. Simpson, that a muddy ditch near Mesolonghl is a favourite resort in spring ; Mr. Howard 
Saunders notes it as common in wunter in Southern Spain, and the Rev. A. C. Smith in Portugal ; and in 
Italy Dr. Henry Giglloli informs us that Ancylocheilus mbarquata, “ in full nuptial dress, is brought alive in 
large numbers to the market at Pisa ; it is caught with nets, and thrives very well in captivity. I kept 
nine or ten, for about three months, in a small enclosed space in a garden, where they had a little pool of 
\vater ; I fed them on bread and chopped meat, which they ate readily ; and they were brisk and active all 
the while I kept them, the males constantly fighting together just as Ruffs do.” 
Mr. Layard notes that a living example, in full breeding-dress, w^as captured near Hope Town, South 
Africa, on the 26th of April ; and Mr. Gurney, that it frequents the Bay of Natal in considerable flights ; 
Von Heuglin found it on the Red Sea from July to September in its summer dress, and young birds 
alone and in small flocks, and betw^een Bab-el-Mandeb and the Somali coast, in the w'inter dress, in October 
and November. It was obtained in Palestine by the Rev. H. B. Tristram ; Captain Irby found it in Oudh 
and Kumaon during the cold season, in very large flocks, on the sandbanks of the rivers Gogra and Choka ; 
and Mr. Jerdon states that it is found throughout India, is rare towards the south, but common about 
Calcutta and in the north of India generally. 
The Plate represents tw'O birds, of the size of life — one in the plumage of summer, the other in that of 
w^inter. The plant is the Bela marrthna, Linn. 
