SCOLOPACID^ - THE SNIPE FAMILY — ARQUATELLA. 221 



fied strut, raises its wings over its back, and then slowly folds them. The bird is 

 crepuscular in its habits, which in some respects appear to be different from those of 

 most of its famil3\ It is foimd almost exclusively on rocky shores of the sea, and 

 shuns sandy beaches. It is seldom known to occur far inland. It is a very unsus- 

 picious bird, and when intent on its food seems to be almost entirely regardless 

 of the near presence of man. Its flight is rapid, and can be long sustained in its 

 migrations. This bird is known to hunters as the " Kock Snipe." An egg of this 

 species from Greenland has a ground of a drab color tinged with olivaceous. The 

 egg is pyriform in shape, but is more oval than that of Arquatella ptilocnemis, which 

 in some respects it closely resembles. The egg is marked Avith blotches of sepia- 

 brown, and these are more or less diffused over the entire surface. The eggs in 

 my cabinet — one from Greenland, and others from different localities — average 1.46 

 inches in length, by 1.10 in their greatest breadth. In some the olivaceous tinge of 

 the ground is much deeper than in others. The spots vary in their number, size, 

 and distribution, in some the smaller end being nearly unspotted. 



Arquatella Couesi. 



THE ALEUTIAN SANDPIPER. 



? Tringa arquatella, (part) Pall. Zoog. Rosso-As. II. 1821, 190 (spec, ex Ins Curilica). 



Tringa marifdma," BniiNN." Dall & Bann. Tr. Chicago Acad. 1. 1869, 291 (St. Michael's, Alaska). — 



FixscH, Abh. Nat. III. 1872, 65 (Alaska). 

 Tringa {Pelidna) americana, Dall. Pr. Cal. Acad. Sci. Feb.- 1873 (Aleutians). 

 Arquatella Couesi, Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Oni. Club, V. July, 1880, 160 (Aleutian Islands) ; Nom. N. 



Am. B. 1881, no. 531. — CouES, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 621. 



Sp. Char. Similar to A. maritima, BRiJNN., but averaging slightly smaller, and the plumage 

 appreciably different at all ages and seasons. Adult hreeding-dress : Above, fuliginous-slate, the 

 feathers of the pileum broadly edged, those of the dorsal region (including the scapulars) widely 

 bordered, with rusty ochraceous or bright cinnamon (a few of the scapulars and interscapulars 

 tipped with white in some specimens), the central area of each feather nearly black, or much darker 

 than the wings and rump ; lesser wing-coverts slightly, and middle coverts broadly, bordered 

 terminally with white ; greater coverts widely tipped with white, forming a conspicuous bar across 

 the wing ; three or four of the inner secondaries chiefly white, the others, also the inner j)rimaries, 

 narrowly skirted and tipped with white. Rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers, 

 uniform fuliginous-dusky, the remaining rectrices paler, or dull cinereous. A conspicuous whitish 

 superciliary stripe, extending back to the nape, and confluent with the dull whitish of the under 

 side of the head, thus posteriorly bounding a large sooty-brown auricular area ; anterior portion of 

 the lores, with the forehead, dull smoky grayish ; neck, jugulum, and breast, dirty whitish (some- 

 times soiled with dingy butt:'), and clouded or spotted with dull slate, sooty plumbeous, or dusky 

 black, this sometimes forming a large patch on each side of the breast ; remaining lower parts pure 

 white, the sides with chain-like series of brownish slaty spots mixed with streaks, the crissum 

 streaked with dusky ; lining of the wing pure white, the border brownish gray Bill, legs, and 

 feet brownish black in the dried skin ; iris brown. In fresh specimens, " feet, legs, and base of fall 

 dark greenish yellow ; terminal two thirds of bill black, or very dark brown" (Nelson, MS.). 

 Winter plumage : Above, soft smoky plumbeous, the scapulars and interscapulars glossy purplish 

 dusky centrally, the plumbeous borders to the feathers causing a squamate appearance ; head and 

 neck uniform plumbeous, except the throat and a supraloral patch, which are streaked whitish ; 

 jugulum squamated with white, the breast similarly but more broadly marked. Wings, etc., as in 

 summer. Young, first plumage : Scapulars and interscapulars black, broadly bordered with bright 

 rusty and buffy white, the latter chiefly on the longer and outer scapulars and posterior part of the 

 back ; wing-coverts broadly bordered with buffy white ; pileum streaked black and ochraceous ; 

 jugulum and breast pale buft^ or bufty white, streaked with dusky. Dovmy young : Above, bright 



