275 
M. F. Pollen on the Genus Oxynotus. 
They are found in little flocks of from two or three to as many 
dozen, and associate in the utmost intimacy with Calidris are - 
naria. On approach they run swiftly, with lowered heads, only 
taking flight when hard pressed ; but they scatter and straggle 
so much that it is difficult to kill many at a shot. At high tide 
they are found in the loose, uneven, dry sand just above the 
water-mark, but at other times feed in the wet sand and among 
the weed-covered rocks, quite among the breakers. They fly 
rapidly, in close flocks, wheeling so as to show alternately the 
upper and under parts. Their note is a low mellow whistle. 
Those that I shot were not very fat. In the winter plumage 
the rufous-brown cap is wanting, the crown being nearly or 
quite the same colour as the back. The bill is black; the eyes 
dark brown; the legs pale livid blue; the feet blackish. Length 
from 6*5 to 7 inches, extent of wings 13*5 to 14 inches. 
I should like much to take my readers with me on the Pacific, 
that we might study together such rare and interesting birds as 
Cerorhina monocerata, Ptychorhamphus aleuticus , Brachyrliamphus 
hypoleucus , and the numbers of little-known Petrels that enrich 
the coast of Lower California. But the length of this paper 
warns me that I must check my restless pen. 
Washington, D. C., January 29, 1866. 
XXIII.— On the Genus Oxynotus of Mauritius and Reunion. 
By Fran§ois Pollen, Honorary Assistant of the Royal 
Museum of Leyden, &c. 
(Plates VII. and VIII.) 
A short time since, on paying a visit to Mr. Edward Newton, 
I had the opportunity of reading in c The Ibis ’ for 1865 
(p. 530) some remarks by its editor on my “ Note sur P Oxynotus 
ferrugineus lately published by the Societe Imperiale d’Aecli- 
matation et d’Histoire Naturelle de Pile de la Reunion. I 
must acknowledge that my description and figures of the Oxy¬ 
notus of Reunion do not apply to the allied bird of Mauritius, 
and that I probably made a mistake in describing the former 
under the name of O. ferrugineus. When I published that paper 
I had never seen a specimen of the Mauritian bird; and it was 
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