122 yATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



1874, under the name of Numenius femornlis Peale. Notliiug is known of itd habits in America, 

 but the presence of the pair at the date meutioued in the vicinity of Saint Michaels would indi- 

 cate that it uests, at least occasionally, in Alaska. 



Their close resemblance in size and habits to N. hudsonicus renders it difficult to say just how 

 rare they ai-e, for they might be mistaken very frequently for the ordinary species and passed by, 

 so it behooves naturalists visiting this region in the future to keep a sharp lookout for them. It 

 is numerous on the Paumotu group, in the South Pacific. 



Dr. Streets found them very abundant on Palmyra Island, but only a few were seen on the 

 other islands of the Fanning group, which are located in the Pacific, just north of the equatoi;. 



Although this species has been known to naturalists for a considerable number of j^ears, yet, 

 beyond the bare mention of its x)resence in a few localities, I have been unable to learn anything 

 concerning its habits. 



My specimen, a male, measures 19 inches in length by 34.5 in extent of wing, when fresh, and 

 the basal half of the lower mandible was dark, dull flesh-color and hpru-black on the rest; feet 

 and tarsus dull livid blue ; iris hazel. Its crop was full of the last year's berries of Empetrum 

 nigrum, upon which it was feeding when shot. Length of wing, 10.18 inches; tarsus, 2.30; 

 culmen, 3.G7 inches. 



Coloration. — The crown is dark brown, divided longitudinally through the median line by a 

 narrow line of feathers with narrow brown shaft-lines and broad borders of pale buff; com- 

 mencing at base of upper mandible, on each side, is a pale buff-shaded, white superciliary line, 

 reaching to the nape, the feathers being finely marked with numerous small dark centers ; a 

 dark-brown loral line reaches to front of orbit, and continues from posterior side of orbit to nape 

 as an indistinct line; below this the feathers of the sides of the head and neck are marked each 

 with a drab shaft-streak and bordered along the sides with pale buff; these shaft-streaks are 

 very minute on the side close to the base of the lower mandible, and increase rapidly and uni- 

 formly in size until at the shoulder they occupy most of the feather; these markings extend 

 around in front on the lower neck, thus inclosing a pale bufly white chin and throat-patch, from 

 which, reaching to the upi>er part of the breast, the feathers are marked as on the sides of 

 the neck ; the back of the neck has the same pattern, but the centers are darker brown and their 

 borders of a deeper buff' tint than on the sides ; back, scapulars, and tertial feathers each with 

 bright very dark brown centers, bordered with varying shades of buff; in some places the buff' 

 edging is a rich, warm tint, fading in other places to a pale whitish shade ; between the bases of 

 scapulars the buff edging takes the form of an irregular but well marked border; the rest of 

 feathers on the back have this border broken up into irregularly rounded spots, from two to four 

 in number, along each side of the feather. The rump is of the same dark brown as the back, 

 relieved only by the narrow dark buffy borders, which are less marked than on the back ; the 

 upper tail-coverts are dark, dull buff, marked with irregular dark bars and shaft-sjiots; tail dark 

 buff with a faint brownish shade and crossed by five blackish brown bars, the inner bar poorly 

 defined. Below, along the sides of the breast, the feathers are irregularly bordered with dark, 

 and the rest of the lower parts, lower half of breast, abdomen, flanks, thighs, and under tail coverts 

 are uniform light buff; under wing-coverts and axillaries richly barred and spotted with deep buff 

 on a dark brown ground ; the primaries dark brown with white shafts, and a coarse, deep, but 

 faint serration of pale buff' along inner edge of inner web ; secondaries and inner primaries each 

 with a series of dull buff spots along outer edge of webs and tipped with gray. The distribution 

 of the color on the back gives a dark surface coarsely spotted with buff', and is one of the most 

 characteristic features of the bird, when compared with the duller and more uniform shades of the 

 other American species of Curlew. 



Chakadrius SQUATAROLA (Liuu.). Black-bellied Plover (Es\i. Tii zJwk.) 



This species is found at Sitka during the migrations and is rather common on the entire Yukon. 

 It arrives- at Nulato aboiit June 1, according to Dall; but I found it rather common at the Y'ukon 

 mouth on May 12, and a little later; so it occasionally, at least, reaches Nulato earlier than June 



