PEIBILOF SANDPIPEE 155 



packed down to a certain extent. No foreign material is carried at all. The 

 nest is usually, but not necessarily, on some very slightly elevated ground and 

 among the lichens called " reindeer moss." Some nests have been found 

 where there was an admixture of Hypnum moss and again where the dwarf 

 willows creep, rootlike, beneath the surface. 



Eggs. — I can not do better than to quote again from Mr. Hanna 

 (1921); he writes: 



The normal set of eggs consists of four. A greater number has never been 

 found, and a less number only when it was uncertain if the full set had been 

 laid. As much as three days may intervene between egg laying, but usually 

 the four are deposited on successive days. When one set of eggs is taken, 

 another will be laid. But the same nest is not used the second time, the 

 contentions of some natives to the contrary notwithstanding. A set of eggs 

 found as late as July 24, 1917, certainly indicated that two may be laid in the 

 same season on rare occasions. One set is the rule. 



The color of the eggs is, as would be expected, somewhat variable. The 

 lightest set examined in connection with this report has the ground color 

 "greenish glaucous." From this there is perfect gradation through "court 

 gray " and " light olive gray " to " deep olive buff " in the darkest set. Varia- 

 tion in any particular set is very slight. Spots are large and bold as a rule. 

 They vary in size from 15 millimeters to less than one, and they are usually 

 massed about the larger end. In one case the eggs are uniformly spotted 

 with small spots all over. In none is the spotting heaviest on the smaller 

 end (reversed eggs). Spots are usually inclined to be round, but occasion- 

 ally they are in the form of streaks arranged roughly in spiral form. Only 

 rarely are they banded about the larger end. In two cases a narrow black 

 line was produced spirally on the larger end. The coloration of the spots varies 

 from " snuff brown " to " sepia " and from " cinnamon brown " to " mummy 

 brown." In some cases they are " raw umber." The darkest shades occur 

 where the spots overlap and some deep-seated ones are " pale aniline lilac " or 

 " pale " to " deep quaker drab." Only rarely is the outline of a spot not 

 sharp. 



The average dimensions derived from the above series of 72 eggs are: 

 Length, 39.473 and breadth 27.468. Those which showed the extreme measure- 

 ments were 42.0 by 27.8 ; 35 by 27.4 ; 37.6 by 39, and 39.1 by 26.4. 



Young. — The period of incubation is said to be about 20 days, in 

 which both sexes share. William Palmer (1899) sa\^s: 



The young leave the nest soon after hatching and are thoroughly well con- 

 cealed by their mimicry of the confusing mixture of mosses, lichens, and other 

 forms of vegetation which abounds and are so well intermingled on these 

 islands. It requires much patience and a close scrutiny to detect a crouching 

 young, even when it is directly within reach. Obedient to their mother's cries 

 they flatten themselves with head and neck extended ; with each yard of the 

 ground precisely similar in pattern and color with every other yard, and the 

 parents, especially the female, trying their best to coax us in other directions, 

 iind the uncertainty as to the exact location of the young, all combine against 

 the collector, so that few specimens reward a tramp that seems exasperatingly 

 needless. The young will not move, though one stands with the foot touching 

 them, but when once handled and released they scamper off with all the quick- 

 ness their long legs can give them. When we invade the vicinity of a nest or 



