One day, as I was seeking Herons in Paradise marshes, I aimed at a bird twice in succession, but each time the cap detonated without igniting the charge: the slight sound alarmed two or three Bar-tails, that were close by, and caused them to rise a few yards into the air, where they remained several seconds, hovering, the wings held perpendicularly, and nearly meeting over the back, after which they settled down again. One, whose wing had been broken, I allowed to run about my room, having first cut off the dangling joint. It had much of the manners of the Kildeer (see p. 331), but frequently held up the wings perpendicularly, when running. That the power of swimming does not depend on webbed feet, is now pretty well known; some instances I have mentioned already. A Bar-tail, shot at Mount Edgecumbe pond, plunged into the water, and swam vigorously, striking out with both feet. On another occasion a Sandpiper, I do not know of what species, being wounded, plunged into a river, and swam some distance; but Sam pursuing and approaching it, it dived, and swam swiftly under water, like a Grebe, coming up at the distance of several yards, then instantly diving again, till at last it effected its escape among the reeds and bushes at the margin. YELLOW-SHANKS GAMBET.[108] _Totanus flavipes._ _Scolopax flavipes_, +Wils.+—Aud. pl. 288. _Totanus flavipes_, +Bechst.+ [108] Length 10¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 19¹⁄₂, flexure 6¹⁄₂, tail 2¹⁄₂, rictus 1⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus 2²⁄₁₀, middle toe 1³⁄₁₀. During the winter we met with this species on one or two occasions, always solitary, wading in the shallows of Crab-pond, and picking. The stomachs of those I obtained, contained a mass of pulverulent matter, which, on being separated in water, seemed to consist largely, if not wholly, of insects. Some soft larvæ, apparently dipterous, and parts of rather large yellow ants, I recognised in one, and in another the remains of _Notonectæ_. BARR-FLANKED GAMBET.[109] _Totanus melanoleucus?_ _Scolopax vocifera_, +Wils.+—Aud. pl. 308. _Totanus melanoleucus_, +Vieill.+ [109] Length 13³⁄₄ inches, expanse 24, flexure 7¹⁄₂, tail 3, rictus 2²⁄₁₀, tarsus 2⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe 1⁶⁄₁₀, hind toe ⁸⁄₁₀. I know this species only by an individual brought to me at Spanish Town on the 21st of March. In the succeeding month, however, Mr. Hill informed me, that both this and the preceding species were particularly abundant; the numbers of these birds procured by the market sportsmen of Spanish-town and Kingston, being quite extraordinary.