160 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



breeding bird, the parent of a brood of downy young, and doubtless 

 both of them were summer resident birds. Dr. Ernst Hartert (1920) 

 has described the resident bird of the Commander Islands as a 

 distinct subspecies, under the name Erolia maritima guarta, of 

 which he says: "In full summer plumage the feather-edgings are 

 broader than in any other form and brighter, more rusty red, so 

 that the rusty red seems to predominate on the whole of the upper 

 parts." This description seems to fit our two birds from Attu Island 

 very well ; so that, if quarta is a recognizable form, as it seems to be, 

 this subspecies should be added to our North American list. The 

 birds could easily fly across from the Commander Islands to Attu 

 Island and establish themselves there. 



Spring. — The spring migration of this sandpiper is not extensive. 

 Many birds have remained all winter on or near their breeding 

 grounds in the Aleutian Islands; others have wintered along the 

 coast as far south as Washington. D. E. Brown tells me that they 

 remain on Destruction Island until May 1 and that they have been 

 seen on Forrester Island as late as June 15. H. S. Swarth (1911) 

 found them " very abundant " on Kuiu Island during his stay there 

 from April 25 to May 6 ; he writes : 



In company with the black turnstone and some other waders, they frequented 

 the broad mud flats, which, at low tide, extend over hundreds of acres at this 

 point. As the tide advanced their feeding grounds became more and more 

 restricted, until, as the last available spot was covered, the whole flock de- 

 parted, with roar of wings, to some jutting rocks at the mouth of the bay, 

 there to remain, preening their plumage and resting, until the receding waters 

 again exposed the mud banks. The flocks seen at this place comprised many 

 hundred individuals, and it is curious that the species was observed absolutely 

 nowhere else. 



Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes from Hooper Bay : 



The Aleutian sandpiper is a common transient visitor in the vicinity of 

 Point Dall and is said by the natives to be a breeding bird in the mountain 

 fastnesses of Cape Romanzoff. This species was first identified by us on May 

 18, but it may have arrived a few days earlier because up to that time we 

 did not suspect its presence. It associated itself with the red-backed sand- 

 piper, to which in the field it has a marked superficial resemblance and in 

 consequence we may have overlooked it. These birds at that time travelled in 

 bands of from 20 to 40 individuals and at low tide fed on the ice-bound sea 

 beach that was then exposed, but when the high water came in and up to the 

 wall of shore ice, thus covering their feeding grounds, they moved back along 

 the open river margins and marshy pond borders. From May 23 to May 28 

 they were very common, when suddenly they departed, only to reappear in 

 early July. The natives are very positive in their assertions that this island 

 dweller breeds in the rugged mountains about Cape Romanzoff, but as we did 

 not visit that area we could not authenticate their statements, nor did we learn 

 anything of its nidification. 



