In Mr. Rodd’s valuable ‘ List of British Birds as a guide to the Ornithology of Cornwall,’ it is stated
that two instances only are on record of its capture in that county: ‘‘ one occurred in the month of Sep-
tember 1846, when ‘t was seen and shot on the flat sands between Penzance and Marazion; the other
specimen, in a similar state of plumage, was killed in the latter part of September 1860, at a poe. near
Chin Gastle, Morvah, by Mr. W. H. Vingoe.” Mr. Rodd elsewhere remarks :—‘ It appears that it does
not confine itself to the tidal estuaries, but affects moorland marshes ”»—an inference coincident with that of
Mr. Selby, who says, ‘‘ from the circumstance of its having been killed at a distance from the coast, it
probably frequents the lakes and rivers of the interior.”

Vieillot has included this bird among the birds of France, on the strength of a specimen having been
found by M. Jules de Lamotte, in Picardy.

Although the Buff-breasted Sandpiper is, as I have stated, a native of both the South and North
American continents, it is so far from being common there that its existence was known to neither Wilson nor
Bonaparte, nor even to Audubon, until communicated to him by Mr. Yarrell; and after figuring
the bird in his celebrated work from a specimen procured at Boston, he had to express his regret that he
could “say nothing respecting its habits and haunts, further than that, having seen a wing of it in the
possession of my friend Captain James Clark Ross, I think it probable that it breeds near the Arctic
circle, as he received the wing from the sailors, who had found it in the course of one of the numerous
inland excursions in the desolate regions from which these intrepid navigators have recently returned.”

Nuttall, in his ‘Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada,’ says :—‘ This elegant
species, in some seasons, is not uncommon in the market of Boston, in the months of August and
September, being met with near the capes of Massachusetts Bay. Specimens bave also been obtained from
the vicinity of New York, and it was first discovered in the then territory of Louisiana; so that, coursing
along the shores of the Mississippi, and thus penetrating inland, it probably proceeds, as well as in the
vicinity of the sea-coast, to its northern destination to breed—and is often here associated with the Pectoral
Sandpiper, which it resembles very much in size and bill, though perfectly distinct in plumage. Its food,
while here, consists principally of land- and marine insects, particularly grasshoppers, which, abounding in
the autumn, become the favourite prey of a variety of birds.”

Mr. H. E. Dresser, who had opportunities of observing the bird during a visit to Southern Texas, says :—
“The Buff-breasted Sandpipers appeared late in August, and were generally found on some grass near the
Lagoon at Matamoras, and not consorting with other Sandpipers. £7 route to San Antonio these birds were
common ; they were seen in small flocks by the roadside, and in grassy places; their habits called to mind
those of the Kentish Plover ; they proved good eating, only they were too small.”

I append a description of the bird in its finest state of plumage, taken from the specimens presented to me
by Dr. Rae :—

Centres of the feathers of the head, back of the neck, and upper surface brownish black, their margins
being light buffy brown, tinged with reddish on the wing-coverts ; primaries dark brown, deepening into
black towards the extremities, which are slightly tipped with white; their outer webs light brown ;_ their
shafts nearly white; their inner webs margined with buffy grey, finely freckled with dark brown; the
lengthened secondaries dark brown, conspicuously margined with light brown tinged with reddish towards
the tips ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark brown, margined with reddish buff; two central tail-feathers
brownish black, with light shafts and edges; the lateral feathers light brown, with a double mark near the
tip of greyish white and black extending down the outer web; the outer margin and the tip nearly white ;
sides of the head, front of the neck, breast, and under surface of the body buff, deepest on the breast, the
sides of which are ornamented by a number of nearly round black spots, one at the tip of each feather ;
on the abdomen, the feathers faintly margined with greyish white ; under surface of the wing white, with a
few small spots of black at the inner edge of the shoulder; under wing-coverts freckled, and with a large
spot of black near the tip of each feather, these marks and the freckles on the inner webs of the primaries
showing very conspicuously when the wing is raised; ‘* under surface of the secondaries ending in sabre-
shaped points, presenting a series of lines formed by alternating shades of white, black, and dusky bands,
which, in the adult, are well defined, and present a beautifully variegated appearance peculiar to this
species ” (Yarrell) ; bill black ; irides dark brown ; legs yellow.

The figures are of the size of life.