NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 241 



Diagnostic characters : Due allowance being- 



o 



made for locality, the only eggs likely to be confused 

 with those of the Avocet are those of the Lapwing, but 

 from these their lighter appearance and less bold mark- 

 ings are sufficient to distinguish them : they never also 

 show any olive tint in the ground colour. Eggs of the 

 Gray Plover also approach them in general appearance, 

 but the breeding areas of the two species are quite 

 distinct. 



Family CHARADRTID.E. Genus Numemus. 



Sub-family TOTANIN^. 



ESKIMO WHIMBREL. 



NuMENius BOREALis [J. R. Forsier). 

 (British : Very rare abnormal autumn migrant.) 



Number of broods unknown. Laying season, June and 

 early July. 



Breeding area : Northern Nearctic region. The 

 Eskimo Whimbrel breeds on the barren grounds above 

 the limits of forest growth of Arctic America from 

 Alaska to the shores of Hudson Bay and Davis Strait. 



Breeding habits: The Eskimo Whimbrel is a 

 regular migrant, passing the United States in May, but 

 not arriving at its summer quarters until the ground is 

 free from snow in June. On migration it is gregarious, 

 but the flocks disperse Into scattered pairs at the breed- 

 ing grounds. This Whimbrel pairs annually, but of its 

 habits at that period I find nothing recorded. The 

 favourite nesting haunts of the Eskimo Whimbrel are in 

 the marshy portions of the barren grounds apparently 

 at no great distance from the shores of the Arctic Ocean. 



