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TRYNGITES RUFESCENS.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

Tringa rufescens, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxxiv. p. 470

Actitis rufescens, Schleg. Rev. Crit. des Ois. d’Eur., p- 92.

Tryngites rufescens, Cab.

Tringoides rufescens, G. R. Gray, Cat. of Brit. Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus p- 161

 

Havine little or nothing to con icate respecti a :

os ; g ‘ imunicate respecting the habits and economy of this exceedingly rare species
of Sandpiper, I may be allowed to compensate as far as may be for this 5 oe OL . :

. per, 3 j ‘ : pensate as far as may be for this deficiency by calling the attention of

my reac an the preat elegance of its form, the neatness of its appearance, and the beautifully pencilled
markings of the underside of its primaries se two creat or 7 , os

‘ 8} e ee, = imanies: In those two great groups of birds the Trochilide and Paradisiade

umming-birds and Birds aradise italeauko bhoveciene se
( g au S v eau yal could undertake to show that singularity of structure and ornamen-
tation have been carried out in various parts of the body and in nearly every distinct set of feathers. In some
of the former, as in Cephalepis, the feathers digied con barcalaie of
ie ; é Dp cto the feathers of the crown are lengthened into elegant crests; in others, as in
Mriocnemis, the upper tail-coverts are large Sal acted: nat os
Ei ee VI tail-coverts are largely developed and wonderfully coloured, while in Hypuroptia it
is the under tail-coverts that are conspicuously displayed. Among the Birds of Paradise some have trimly
cut mantles, others a kind of apron; that remarkable bird the Semoptera Wallacei has two of its secondary
wing-feathers greatly prolonged and placed at a right angle to the remainder; and bundreds of other
equally singular instances might be quoted of what we can only regard as decorative ornamentation ; and
if it is not for the same purpose that the beautiful pencillings of the under surface of the primaries of the
~ e =
Buff-breasted Sandpiper have been designed, I really know no other; and, indeed, the true reason will
a Tor a Ie y op > ee mc . ‘ - , i Toes '
probably never be known. The bird was first made known to science by M. Vieillot—who described a spe-

”

cimen from Louisiana, in the second edition of the ‘ Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle,” tom.
xxxiv. p. 470, as Zringa rufescens,—and was first recorded and figured as a member of our avifauna
by Mr. Yarrell, in the 16th volume of the ‘Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ p. 109, pl. 11,
from a specimen obtained by him in the autumn of 1826. Since that date several other examples have
been procured in various parts of England, and one in Ireland; but its visits to our islands must be
regarded as purely accidental, as, indeed, must also be its occurrence on the continent of Europe, its
proper home being America, in the northern parts of which country it breeds and passes the summer,
and thence migrates to other parts of the United States, Central and South America, as far as Brazil,
where, according to Natterer, it is common. From all of these countries I have seen specimens ; and
I would here record my obligations to Dr. Rae for his kindness in presenting me with a fine pair, obtained
by him at Repulse Bay, on the 14th of June, 1854, during one of the Arctic Expeditions in search of my
lamented friend Sir John Franklin.

As the bird is so rare, it will be well perhaps to enumerate all the instances with which I am acquainted
of its occurrence in our islands.

Mr. Yarrell’s specimen was shot early in the month of September 1826, in the parish of Melbourne, in
Cambridgeshire, in company with some Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus). A specimen preserved in the
Museum at Norwich was killed at Sherringham, on the coast of Norfolk.

A male, killed in May 1829, at Formby, on the banks of the river Alt, about thirteen miles north of
market of that town for sale, along with some Snipes, and now forms part of the
_ Thomas Staniforth, of Storr’s Hall, Windermere.
of 1839 or 1840, was formerly in the possession of

Liverpool, was sent to the
fine collection of British Birds belonging to the Rev
A fourth example, shot at Yarmouth, in the autumn
the late T. C. Heysham, at Carlisle.
Two more are mentioned as having
1841, and the other on Breydon Broad, September 20th, 1843.
Stephen Stone, Esq., of Brighthampton, ‘nformed the Rey. F. O. Morris that another was met with on
near Bampton, in Oxfordshire. ‘Thompson says :—‘ According
near the Pigeon-house, Dublin Bay, is preserved in the
When the bird was killed is not stated.”
1866, that one was shot early in the morning

been killed on the coast of Norfolk—one on the 22nd of September,

some low land through which the Isis flows,
to F. M‘Coy, Esq., one shot by J. Hill, Esq.,
Museum of the Natural-History Society of that city.

Mr. H. Blake-Knox has recorded, in the ‘ Zoologist ’ for
about the beginning of 1864, by Mr. Joyce, in company with

piece of slob land called the People’s Park, beside the town of Belfast.
In the ‘ Zoologist ’ for 1843, F. Bond, Esq., has recorded that a specimen, obtained on the Sussex coast,

had lately come into his possession.

another, too much injured for preserving, ona