Mr. H. E. Dresser on the Birds of Southern Texas. 37 
Tringa wilsont, Nuttall. Least Sandpiper. 
Very common at Matamoras in the autumn, arriving there late 
in July. In the early spring also I shot several near San Antonio. 
Bill brownish-black; legs light yellowish-brown; iris dark 
brown, 
Ereunetes petrificatus, Illiger. Semipalmated Sandpiper. 
Not uncommon near Matamoras, but by no means so nume¬ 
rous as the last-named species. I never saw any at San Antonio. 
Bill black; legs dark olive-brown; iris dark. Stomach con¬ 
taining small worms. 
Micropalama himantopus (Bonaparte). Stilt-Sandpiper. 
When out shooting at the lagoon, soon after my arrival at 
Matamoras, I shot a Sandpiper that was quite new to me; and 
having no work on ornithology to which I could refer, I noted 
down a careful description in my pocket-book. Subsequently, 
on comparing it with Mr. Cassinis account in Baird’s ( Birds of 
North America ’ (which book I procured at San Antonio), I found 
it to be the species named above. During my stay at Mata¬ 
moras I shot several more Stilt-Sandpipers, meeting with them 
far oftener (as the different kinds of birds of this family began 
to arrive from the north), and generally finding them in company 
with Macrorhamphus griseus. I skinned several, all of which, 
on my return to Matamoras in 1864, I found so damaged that 
I had to throw them away. When out Snipe-shooting on the 
20th November, 1863, near San Antonio, I shot one of these 
birds, and saw another, which, however, I did not succeed in 
killing. The one I shot I preserved and now have, having com¬ 
pared it with the miserable remains of those I had left at Mata¬ 
moras before I threw them away. 
Bill dark greenish-black; legs dark greyish; iris dark brown. 
Symphemia semipalmata (Gmelin). Willet. 
Not uncommon near San Antonio during the summer. I 
shot specimens at the Boca Grande in July and August, and 
between Matamoras and Victoria (at King’s Rancho) in Septem¬ 
ber, but never saw any near 'San Antonio. I saw several in 
June on Galveston Island, but shot none. One was sent to me 
from Fort Stockton. 
