CURLEW SANDPIPER 233 



in 1897. Two years previously (August, 1895), he had met with 

 family parties on the delta and had shot young which must have 

 been reared in the neighborhood. On July 3, 1897, finding the way 

 below Golchika blocked by the ice, he turned back to explore an 

 island of soft tundra with a rocky shore. One of his men called 

 out that he had seen a sandpiper and at once, according to his own 

 words : 



I sent the other two men away and lay down to watch the bird, which stood 

 still for some time, then flew some distance away and I lost sight of it among 

 some turnstones. We again saw the bird near the same spot, so Hansen and I 

 Lay down to watch while the mosquitoes did their worst. The bird stood 

 for some time watching us and then began running about; it was very difficult 

 to keep it in sight for it took advantage of every little hollow to run in 

 and every little ridge to hide behind. It then flew to another place and did 

 the same thing again, so I asked Hansen to get up and walk away. The bird 

 remained quite motionless, watching him go, and then ran backwards and 

 forwards and finally stopped still behind a small tuft of grass. After waiting 

 for some minutes I raised my head slightly ; the bird instantly flew off and 

 stood watching, but, as it saw nothing moving, it began running about again 

 and settled down in the same spot; then I felt sure I had a nest safe, but to 

 make doubly sure I went through the same performance again, a shower of 

 rain no doubt hastening matters, and this time I distinctly saw the bird 

 shuffle the eggs under it. I jumped up, shot the bird as it ran away, and soon 

 had the pleasure of looking at the first authentic eggs of the curlew sandpiper. 

 The bird, which proved to be the female, remained silent throughout ; at one 

 time I thought I heard it make a sound like a dunlin, but, as I afterwards saw 

 dunlins close by, I was probably mistaken. 



The next news comes from the Russian explorers Avho wintered on 

 the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula in 1900-1901. In Doctor Walter's 

 posthumous notes he writes that the curlew sandpiper nested in 

 numbers near his winter quarters. The nests were placed in grassy 

 places and by mid- June (old style) contained full clutches. On the 

 approach of anyone the sitting birds, warned by their mates, left 

 the nests quickly and both birds remained very passive and un- 

 obtrusive. Usually a long wait was necessary before the female 

 returned to the nest, and often the watch resulted in failure. Some 

 individuals also wander about in flocks through the breeding season, 

 and later on young and old collect in large flocks and stay till late 

 in the autumn. Doctor Walter collected three clutches of eggs here, 

 and another Russian naturalist, Dr. Katin Jartzew, also took sev- 

 eral on Kotelni Island, in the New Siberian Isles, in 1902. Since 

 that date the only information we have received is that furnished 

 by Miss Haviland (Mrs. Brindley), who visited the delta of the 

 Fenesei in 1914. In her account (1915) of her travels she writes: 



On July 6, as I was returning from a long round over the tundra that lay 

 in the northern angle of the Tenesei and Golchika Rivers, all at once I saw 

 a little rufous curlew, which was standing on a tussock about 20 yards away, 

 watching me quietly. When I stopped she flew away, but soon alighted again 



