238 PR.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LBIICOL.E. 



by any domestic cares or responsibilities, begin their southern flight some time before 

 the others, who must wait for the maturity of their broods. Be these conjectures as 

 tliey may, we tind, all over the country, in the interior, on both coasts, even at places 

 surprisingly far from any of their known breeding-places, that this bird is sure 

 to reappear in small numbers in July — this early reappearance remaining as yet 

 unexplained. 



Mr. E. Adams (" Ibis," 1878), in his Notes on Birds observed by him on the Sea- 

 coast of Alaska, mentions meeting with this species at Norton Sound as early as the 

 14th of April, while the snow still covered the greater part of the ground ; they were 

 not, however, seen in great numbers until the middle of the following month. They 

 confined themselves almost solely to the salt-marsh and the muddy banks of the 

 river, where it was reached by the tide ; at such points they were always to be found, 

 in flocks of from fifty to a hundred, accompanied by a few Dunlins and Brown Snipes. 

 Mr. Adams often sat on a log while tliey Avere feeding all around Avithin a foot of 

 him ; but on his making the slightest movement, they were gone in an instant, with 

 a whisk and a twitter. Their nests were placed on the higher ground surrounding 

 till' marsh ; the eggs are described as spotted with shades of olive-green, principally 

 about the large end, and upon a pale brownish ground. 



It is quite probable that here and there, in favorable situations, pairs of these 

 birds stop to breed in exceptionally southern latitudes. Mr. Nelson states that on 

 the 5th of June, 1875, he found one of them building its nest near the Calumet 

 River, in Northeastern Illinois ; and several of this species Avere observed by INIr. 

 Eice near Waukegan on the 1st of July, they having, as he felt assured, nested in 

 that vicinity. We are not aAvare, however, that the eggs or young of this bird have 

 ever been actually taken Avithin the limits of the United States. 



Mr. Dall obtained a specimen of this bird at Nulato, May 14, AA'here it is not com- 

 mon. It Avas more plentiful at the mouth of the Yiikon, Avhere its eggs were procured. 

 He met with it also at Popoff Island, one of the Aleutians, June 20, 1872, where it 

 Avas rather almndant. Mr. Bischoff also obtained it at Sitka. 



It is given by ]Mr. E. BroAvne as one of the common birds of VaneouA'er Island. 

 In California, according to Dr. Cooper, it is nearly resident, being absent from the 

 coast only during a part of June and July ; it is frequently seen about inland ponds 

 and marshes in the interior. It occurs in immense flocks, during the Avinter, on the 

 shores of the Pacific in »Southern California ; and on the same coast, much farther 

 south, about the mouth of tlie Nagualate Eiver, in Guatemala, Mr. Salvin found it 

 occurring in considerable numbers in the month of March. 



Mr. J. A. Allen met Avith an occasional specimen of this species in the Valley of 

 Salt Lake, in Utah, in the month of September; and Mr. EidgAvay also mentions 

 finding it in Utah and Colorado during its migrations. 



On the Atlantic coast it is, if anything, eA^en more common and abundant. Along 

 the shores of Hudson's Bay and Davis Straits, throughout Labrador, and on the 

 islands farther south, it is a summer resident from June to the close of its short 

 season. It is abundant, both in the spring and in the fall, along the entire Atlantic 

 coast, a certain proportion remaining all the Avinter. or from October to April, on the 

 coast of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and all the Gulf States, to Mexico, and 

 thence to South America. It is also abundant in the West India Islands, occurring 

 in Cuba, Jamaica, as well as in various other islands, from September to the folloAV- 

 ing May. It visits the Bermudas in its southern migrations, arriving there from the 

 last of July to the first part of November, and being present, at times, in flocks of 

 many hundreds. 



