162 BULLETIN 142, "UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



in diameter and fully 2 inches deep, partially concealed by a few 

 blades of scanty grass, and lined with dead leaves, a few straws, and 

 a few feathers of the bird. The four eggs were only slightly in- 

 cubated. I found a similar nest, containing three small, downy 

 young, on Attu Island on June 23 ; the nest was on a little hummock 

 on a hillside, a deep hollow, lined with dead leaves and bits of straw. 

 It was the male bird that flew from the nest in both cases. 



Austin H. Clark (1910) found a nest on Attu Island on the side 

 of a mountain, 700 feet or more above the valley and near an ex- 

 tensive patch of snow. Alfred M. Bailey (1925) found a nest at 

 Emma Harbor, Siberia, on July 4, 1921, containing three young and 

 an egg; the nest was "on the shores of the bay, in gravel along the 

 beach." He also found several nests the following season near Wales, 

 Alaska ; " the nesting sites varied from exposed depressions in the 

 moss to well-concealed dried grass." A set of eggs in Edward Ar- 

 nold's collection, taken by Sheldon and Lamont on Montague Island, 

 Alaska, June 22, 1916, came from a nest " on debris just above tide- 

 water." 



Eggs. — The Aleutian sandpiper almost invariably lays four eggs, 

 although five have been found. These are ovate pyriform in shape 

 and have a slight gloss. The ground color is " olive buff " or " deep 

 olive buff." They are heavily, boldly, and irregularly blotched, 

 chiefly about the larger end, with a few scattering smaller spots. 

 The markings are in dark browns, " chestnut brown," " burnt um- 

 ber," and " seal brown," varying with the thickness of the pigment. 

 There are underlying blotches of "brownish drab," producing very 

 handsome eggs. They can not always be distinguished with cer- 

 tainty from eggs of the Pribilof sandpiper, as they vary greatly in 

 size; they average smaller, but the measurements overlap widely. 

 The measurements of 50 eggs average 38 by 26.6 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 43.2 by 26.8, 39.4 by 28, 

 35 by 26.3, and 37.3 by 24.1 millimeters. 



Young. — Incubation is apparently performed by both sexes, and 

 both assist in the care of the young. The birds that I flushed from 

 my two nests, one with eggs and one with young, both proved to be 

 males. Mr. Turner (1886) says: 



The males are much devoted to their mates while incubating, and I have 

 every reason to believe that the male does the greater part of the labor of 

 incubating, as they were the ones generally found either on or near the nests. 

 When alighting near the nest either sex has the habit of raising its wings 

 Derpendicularly and slowly folding them, all the while uttering a trilling 

 peep, continued for several seconds. 



The parents are very devoted to their young, employing the usual 

 tactics to divert the attention of the intruder, stumbling and flutter- 

 ing over the ground, as if both legs and wings were broken. The 



