MIGRATION AMONG SHORE-BIRDS 173 



ing and Eastern tattlers (Heteroscelus incanus and 

 H. brevipes), the sanderling, the Pacific godwit, and 

 the sharp-tailed sandpiper. These pass to the far 

 south, the godwit regularly reaching New Zealand, 

 while some of the others penetrate irregularly or 

 casually to that group of islands. The Pacific 

 golden plover is a regular migrant to the islands of 

 Hawaii, and winters there in some abundance on 

 grassy uplands; others of the subspecies pass on 

 far to the southward. In the passage south, if 

 these birds touch at the Aleutian Islands, they have 

 a distance of nearly 2800 miles across open seas be- 

 fore they reach a safe haven of land. As in this great 

 stretch there are no landmarks, they must revert 

 to some sense of direction to guide them safely. 



Among hunters on the island of Barbadoes in the 

 British West Indies there is current belief that shore- 

 birds migrant to that island alight to rest on the 

 surface of the ocean; and it is the custom when 

 shooting to taste the axillar feathers of birds killed. 

 If these have a flavor of salt, it is assumed that the 

 bird has recently arrived, and the salty taste is 

 attributed to immersion in the ocean. Though it 

 is not impossible that shore-birds might alight on 

 the water to rest and then fly again, there is no ob- 

 servation known to me to prove that they regularly 

 do so. The salt taste alluded to could easily arise 

 from a deposit from vapors blown by the wind, as 



