308 PR.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^. 



taken ; this "was near Chicago, Sept. 4, 1873. Dr. Hoy speaks of it as common near 

 Racine from September 15 to October 10 ; but this statement Mr, Nelson seems 

 disposed to question. 



Mr. Dall mentions that t^yo specimens of this Sandpiper were obtained on the 

 Yukon, beloAV Nidato, where it was not common. One was obtained at Sitka by 

 Bischoft'. 



It breeds abundantly in tlie Anderson River region, where a number of its nests 

 and eggs were found by Mr. MacFarlane ; and from his memoranda in reference to 

 the nests and eggs of this species in upward of twenty instances, we gather that the 

 nest is always on the groimd, and hardly distinguishable from that of the Golden 

 Plover, being a mere depression in the soil, scantily lined with a few withered leaves 

 and dried grasses. These nests were all obtained on the Barren Grounds between 

 Horton's River and the coast, between the 26th of June and the 9th of July. The 

 eggs in every instance were four in number. Even in July the embryos were not far 

 advanced. When the nest Avas approached, the female usually made a short low 

 flight to a distance of about twelve yards. 



The eggs of this species are conspicuously pyriform in shape, and measure 1.51 

 inches in length by 1.10 in the greatest breadth. So far as I have noticed them, 

 however much they may vary in certain minor respects, they all present a remarkable 

 uniformity in their general characteristics and aj)pearance. Their ground-color is 

 uniformly an ashy drab, over which are profusely spread rounded markings, splashes, 

 and confluent blotches of deep sepia. The markings are smaller and more rounded 

 in sha])e around the smaller end, and larger and more confluent about the other. The 

 sepia tint is quite uniform, and the deeper markings are mingled with washes of 

 dilute purplish slate. These markings vary in their shape, size, and character, being 

 in some large splashes, and in others longitudinal, as if made by strokes of a paint- 

 brush. The eggs described are in my own cabinet, and were taken by MacFarlane 

 on the Arctic coast east of Anderson River (No. 1893). 



Genus EURYNORHYNCHUS, Nilsson. 



Eurynorhynchus,^ Nilss. Orn. Suec. II. 1821, 29 (type, Platalea pygmcea, Linn.). 



Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus. 



THE SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER. 



Platalea pygmcea, Lixx. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 140 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 231 (" Surinam "). —Gmel. S. 



N. I. 1788, 615 (iiuotes "Mas. Ad. Fr. 26. Bancr. Guj. 171. Dwarf Spoonbill, Lath. Syn. IV. 



i. p. 17, n. 3"). 

 Eurynorhynchus pygmceus, Pearson, .lour. As. Soc. Beng. V. 1836, 127.^ — Harting, Ibis, 1869, 



427, pi. 12 ((-ritical, with full synonymy ; Choris Peninsula, Alaska) ; P. Z. S. 1879, 111, 114 



(same loc). — Cottes, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, 136, no. 884. 

 Eurinorhyndms pygmoeus, Gray, Hand-1. III. 1871, 51. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, 85, no. 



542 (Point Barrow, Alaska). — Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas. V. 1882, 165 (Plover Bay, 



Siberia). 

 Eurynorhynchus griseus, "Nilss." Temm. Man. ed. 2, II. 1820, 594. 

 Eurynorhynchus orientalis, Blyth, Ann. Mag. N. H. XIII. 1844, 178, 179. 



^ This name has been variousl}' spelled Eurinorhynchus, Eurinoryncus, Eurinorinchus, Eurhinorhyn- 

 chiis, Eurinorincus, etc., but the form given above is the true orthography. See " The Ibis," 1869, p. 427 

 (footnote). 



