Letters, Announcements, ^c. 375 



Sirs, — I notice that in the April nnmber of ' The Ibis ' 

 Mr, Henry Seebohm, referring to the Curlew Sandpiper, 

 makes the remark — " The eggs of this bird and those of the 

 Knot are now the two great prizes left for British oologists to 

 try and secure/^ Unfortunately for British enterprise,, this 

 has not been left for our cousins to " secure/'' One of my 

 own countrymen — perhaps not aware that matters had been 

 thus arranged, but supposing the right of discovery an open 

 one, and not exclusively that of the sons of "the fast- anchored 

 isle " — has committed the indiscretion of discovering the eggs 

 of Tringa subarquata. 



Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, Naturalist to the Expedition sent to 

 the Cumberland region, was so fortunate as to find the Curlew 

 Sandpiper breeding in North Greenland, near Christianshaft, 

 in the summer of 1878. He mentions the species as not un- 

 common. Several eggs were procured, through the attentions 

 of Governor Fencken. Two examples of the eggs were 

 brought home by Mr. Kumlien ; and these are now in the col- 

 lection of the Smithsonian Institution. During a recent visit 

 to Washington I availed myself of the opportunity to examine 

 these specimens ; and from the notes then taken I send you 

 the following description : — 



One of these eggs measured 1'52 inch in length by 1'05 

 inch in its greatest breadth. Its ground-colour is thickly 

 marked with blotches of two shades of umber-brown ; one of 

 these shades is quite light, the other much darker. These 

 are most numerous on and around the larger end, and are in 

 a somewhat longitudinal direction, with a tendency also to a 

 spiral course. There are also a few spots of a very dark 

 (almost a black) colour on the larger end. 

 I The other e^^ measures V4<7 inch by 1*04 inch, and is of a 

 much more pyriform shape. Its ground-colour is a very light 

 greenish drab, Avith rather sparse markings of a deep umber. 

 The markings are larger and more confluent about the greater 

 end of the e^^, where they are chiefly disposed in a circular 

 ring. The rest of the egg is sparsely marked with the same. 

 About the larger end are a few very dark markings. 



The two eggs, as you will notice, differ somewhat in their 



