110 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



During the suuiiuer of ISSl, iu August, I found tbtm at several places along the Arctic coast 

 north of Kotzebue Sound, and at Toiut Barrow they were very uumerous about the small pools 

 of water near the shore. Murdocii found it to be a common summer resident here, arriving about 

 the end of May. 



A specimen is recorded from Sitta by Dall and others from Kadiak Island aud from Amak 

 Island north of the peninsula of Aliaska. Ou the Yukon Dall found it not rare, and the collections 

 obtained along the Arctic coast of British America and adjacent region show it to be a common 

 breeding bird there; its summer range probably includes all the Arctic coast of America west or 

 Hudson's Bay. 



I regret my lack of opi^ortunity to observe this little known species on its breeding ground; it 

 it extends to the Yukon mouth, it must breed there rarely. As recorded in the Birds of the North- 

 west, by Dr. Coues, the eggs of this bird, obtained in June on the Anderson River by Macfarlane, 

 have a ground color of clayey, shading to gray or bufly, aud are spotted with rich umber and 

 chocolate browns with paler shell markings. The markings are usually fine and of varying shape, 

 larger, and sometimes massed, about the large end. 



Three eggs measure 1.30 by .90 ; 1.35 by .94; 1.28 by .92. 



My single specimen was secured near Saint Michaels iu August, 1877, and by the latter part 

 of this month it is found south to British Columbia along the Pacific coast. In the National 

 Museum series there is a specimen of this bird iu the first plumage taken on the Siberian shore of 

 Bering Sea near the straits. 



Teinga MiNUTiLLA Yieill. Least Sandpiper (Esk. LilJc-i-Uhv-Iu-ul:) 



1 did not meet this species in the course of my work on the Alaskan coast, and can merely 

 record facts gleaned by others. 



A male was secured on May 14 at Nulato, by Dall, where, however, he states that the bird 

 is not common, although he took other specimens. His remark that the bird is rather more 

 common at the Yukon mouth was not verified by my observations during May and June at that 

 locality. It was also found in May at Sitka by Bischoff and on the Shumagins in June by Dall. 

 Hartlaub records it from Portage Bay May 5, and at Chilcat May 12. A single specimen was 

 brought me from Nulato in June, 1878, and, with the preceding records, show that it is generally 

 distributed on the mainland of Alaska, but is not abund.int anywhere near the sea-coast. There is 

 no record of its occurrence on any of the islands in Bering Sea. Bean found them at Belkovsky 

 in July and at Plover Bay, Siberia, the middle of August. 



Teinga alpina pacifica (Coues). Red-backed Sandpiper (Esk. CM-(jM-mu- 

 (jMl;). 



An abundant summer resident at Port Barrow, according to Murdoch, arriving the end of 

 May and leaving about the end of August or first of September. Beau found it common along 

 the coast north of Kotzebue Sound, the last of August. It occurs ou the Commander Islands 

 during the migrations, and Stejneger finds his specimens from there to be like typical American 

 birds. 



In early seasons the first of these birds reach the Y'ukon mouth and the shores of Norton 

 Sound by the 10th of May, and by the 25th of this month they are in full force. They arrive 

 in full breeding dress, and are generally in small Hocks, which soon break up, aud the birds scatter 

 in twos and threes over the moss aud grass-grown " tundra" to pair aud attend to their summer 

 duties. They nest from the first of June to the first of July, and I secured a set of four fresh eggs 

 on the third of this latter mouth in 1877. 



The young ai'e mostly ou the wiug toward the end of July, and the birds begin to gather into 

 flocks along the muddy edges of the brackish ])ools and the banks of tide creeks. Very soon after 

 this they begin to lose their summer plumage, and the moult continues until the last of September 

 or first of October. During the first of October they are very common in flocks and singly among 



