276 BULLETIN 14 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



SO much with their preoccupied dreamy gaze that, when one took wing and 

 flew with swift strong wing strokes out across the surf and over the ocean, 

 a disappearing white spot, you stood bewildered. Your idle dreamer was a 

 child of the sea ! Perhaps when it stood on the sandy beach with preoccupied 

 gaze it was dreaming of its rocky surf-dashed home to the north, or of its rocky 

 surf-dashed winter home to the south. How well its wild, keen, plaintive 

 hey-ah-wee tells the story! 



Field marks. — ^Wliile standing on rocks, at a distance or when the 

 light is poor, surf birds might be mistaken for black turnstones, but 

 they are somewhat larger. They are more stockily built and gener- 

 ally darker colored than other shore birds. But in flight they may be 

 easily recognized by the broad white band in the wing, and by the 

 white upper tail coverts and basal half of the tail; they lack the 

 broad white patch in the center of the back and white stripes, which 

 distinguish the turnstones. 



Fall. — The birds apparently leave their breeding grounds in July 

 and move down to the coast of Alaska; some reach Oregon before 

 the end of July and California early in August. Apparently the 

 adults come first. Young birds have been taken on the coast of 

 southern Alaska as early as August 27 and have been noted at St. 

 Michael up to the last of September. During the fall they move 

 gradually down the coast, lingering for the winter at favorable 

 places. 



Winter. — The surf bird winters in small numbers, occasionally if 

 not regularly, as far north as Wrangell, Alaska. Carl Lien has sent 

 me the following notes from the coast of Washington : 



Destruction Island lies 50 miles south of Cape Flattery and 3 out from the 

 mainland. It is 35 acres in extent and surrounded by extensive reefs which 

 are uncovered at low tide. There are numerous rocky ridges that are well 

 above the water at high tide, these ridges forming little protected bays and 

 harbors. 



I first went to this island in December, 1910. On nice days when the sea 

 was smooth it was my custom to row around the reefs observing the birds. 

 I found the surf birds generally in company with Aleutian sandpipers and 

 black turnstones. There would be a half dozen on this reef and similar 

 bunches on neighboring reefs. Their actions were very lively, now running to a 

 higher point on the rock as the wash from the swell came rushing up, now 

 running down again as the water receded, feeding busily. The only thing I 

 ever found in their stomachs was small mussels aI:)out an eighth of an inch 

 long, occasionally up to a quarter of an inch. The following autumn they 

 returned though I did not note the date. I saw them from time to time during 

 the winter in the winters of 1912-13, 1913-14, 1914-15, 1915-16, 1916-17. They 

 would arrive the last week in October or the first week in November. The 

 flock on its first arrival would number about 200 birds. They would begin to 

 leave the island the 1st of April and by the 1st of May there would be none 

 left. They did not visit the liigh parts of the island but confined themselves 

 to the reefs and gravel bars. They were very wary and hard to approach on 

 foot though they would sometimes allow a boat to come within 10 yards. 



