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Show 1867.] PROF. N E W T O N ON N E W BIRDS' EGGS. 165 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. Tryngites rufescens (Vieillot). (Pl. X V. fig. 4.) For a knowledge of the eggs of this occasional visitor to Europe oologists are indebted to the efforts of Mr. R. R. Macfarlane, one of the collectors employed by the Smithsonian Institution of Washington in those explorations of Arctic America which have been so prolific in oological interest. The specimen I possess (Pl. X V . fig. 4) was obtained, 29th June, 1863, by that gentleman on the barren grounds to the east of the Anderson River, and was out of a nest of four eggs, from which the hen bird was shot. I desire to record here my deep acknowledgement of the kindness with which Prof. Henry has placed the describing of this valuable specimen in my power. Its size is 1*52 inch in long diameter by 1*08 inch. In coloration it differs somewhat from the normal appearance of most eggs of the Scolopacidce (though I have seen some Snipes' which resemble it), being of a pale stone-colour, with well-defined moderate-sized and not thickly disposed blotches of hair-brown, beneath which is a series of blotches of two shades of lavender-grey. The accounts which have been published of the habits of this species seem to justify its removal from the genus Tringa. AMERICAN STINT. Tringa minutilla, Vieillot (fide Coues, Proc. Acad. Philad. 1861, p. 191). (Pl. X V . fig. 3.) The eggs I possess of this species have much the same history as that of the last. They are three, out of four, from a nest whence the hen bird was snared in June 1863, on the Arctic coast east of the Anderson River, and were collected by Mr. Macfarlane. A brief note, in Prof. Baird's handwriting which accompanies the specimens, adds the information that there were "decayed leaves in nest." These eggs have not much resemblance to those of Tringa minuta or T. temmincki; for though the ground-colour is much the same, the darker markings take the form rather of streaks or dashes than of blotches or spots. They vary much in intensity of tone. In size they seem to correspond almost exactly with those of T. temmincki. GREY PHALAROPE. Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus). (Pl. X V . fig. 1.) In the "Appendix" to Mr. Baring Gould's 'Iceland' (p. 412) I mentioned that in the summer of 1862 a friend of mine sent me four eggs as those of this bird, which had been taken under his superintendence, and that I believed them to be especially well authenticated. W h e n I was in Iceland in 1858 I discovered and watched for several hours two pairs of Grey Phalaropes on a little lake at Utskala, within a few yards of this gentleman's parsonage house ; and though I am sure they did not breed there that year, I was told by several of the inhabitants of the district that they did so sometimes. Accordingly I took m y friend and other persons to look at the birds, |
