240 PR^COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLiE. 



markings larger and more numerous toward the obtuse end ; tliey were quite fresh. 

 The nest was under the lee of a small rock, exposed to all the heat the sun can afford 

 in that high latitude. This pair must have been late in depositing their eggs, as a 

 fortnight later Audubon's party saw young birds almost as large as their parents; 

 and soon after both parents and young were preparing for their departure south. 



This species, so very generally distributed, so common everywhere — it heing 

 hardly less numerous than tlio Ereunetes jmsiUtcs — collects in the fall in immense 

 flocks, and resorts to the great masses of drifting sea-weed on our coasts, frequenting 

 also the shores and sedgy borders of salt ponds, gleaning minute shellfish and marine 

 insects. Although most abundant on the borders of the sea, it is not entirely con- 

 fined to the shore, but is also found along the margins of the interior lakes and rivers. 

 On the shores of Long Island Giraud speaks of it as very plentiful, and as being, 

 during the month of September, in excellent condition for the table. By some it is 

 considered far superior, both in flavor and in juiciness, to many of our larger shore- 

 birds. Its note is low and lisping; but when alarmed, it moves off in a confused and 

 irregular manner, uttering a shrill twitter sounding like the syllables peep-jjeet. Dur- 

 ing October it migrates farther south, reappearing early in the spring on the shores 

 of !N'ew Jersey and Long Island, Avhere it is seen in numbers during each one of the 

 summer months, although it is not known to breed within the limits of the United 

 States. 



Eichardson, who described tliis l)ird under two specific appellations, speaks of 

 finding it abundant in the autumn, feeding during the recesses of the tide on the ex- 

 tensive mud-flats at the mouths of JS'elson and Hayes rivers. He adds that it breeds 

 within the Arctic Circle, arriving there as soon as the snow melts. As early as the 

 21st of May it was observed on the swampy borders of small lakes in latitude 6G°. 

 Its crop was filled with a soft blackish earth and small white worms. 



This species was found breeding abundantly at Fort Anderson, on the Barren 

 Grounds, at Lake Rendezvous, and near the Arctic coast, by Mr. MacFarlane. Of 

 the twenty nests, the notes of which we have examined, all but six were taken 

 between the 21st and 30th of June, none being recorded as later than the 3d of July. 

 The number of eggs is generally given as four — in no instance more. The nests 

 were always on the ground, and generally a mere depression, with a lining of a few 

 dry leaves and grasses, and usually near small lakes. The female, as she fluttered 

 off her nest, often imitated tlie fliglit of a wounded bird, and if left undisturbed, 

 almost immediately returned to her nest. If persistently interrupted, she kept about 

 the nest, and endeavored by simulated lameness to draw off the intruders, soon 

 becoming quite wary, if shot at. 



One set of the eggs of this species, collected near the Arctic coast by Mr. MacFar- 

 lane (S. I. jSTo. 9377), measure 1.15 inches by .85. The ground is a light drab, thinly 

 marked with sepia-brown spots, patches of which are suffused with the ground-color, 

 giving them an ashy effect. The markings are more numerous, and of greater size 

 about the larger end. The eggs are decidedly pyriform in shape. Another set (S. I. 

 ISTo. 3324), collected on Sable Island, ISTova Scotia, by P. S. Dodd, have a light-drab 

 ground-color ; but this is almost entirely concealed by the numerous markings of dark 

 umber brown. 



