68 Proceedings of the 



have no other records of the occurrence of this bird at 

 Halsey. It is not common anywhere in the state. 



30. Actitis viacularia (Linnaens) — Spotted Sandpiper. 



Spotted Sandpipers were scattered along the Middle 

 Lonp and Dismal rivers and were noted until September 

 7, 1912. One pair was seen frequently on a little wooded 

 island near the Reserve station but, although I felt sure 

 that there was a nest at this place, I was unable to find 

 it until June 13. On that date I set out to make a minute 

 survey with the resolve to find the nest if at all possible. 

 I waded out to the island and sat down near the center 

 of it to see if the birds would give me any clue, for in 

 that part of the island they had been seen on many oc- 

 casions and it was there, in fact, that the female was al- 

 w^ays last seen when I suspected that she was returning 

 home. Scarcely had I seated myself when the male was 

 overhead, nervous and fluttering. He circled about me 

 once or twice and then flew over a nearby clump of wil- 

 lows, so I rose to my feet and circled the group of trees, 

 entering it at the opposite side. The center of the place 

 was somewhat more open than the margin and barely had 

 I set foot within the clearing when the female was up be- 

 fore me. It took no exertion on my part to find the* place 

 from which she had flown and the nest was soon in view, 

 if nest it could properly be called. It was a mere hollow 

 in the ground at the foot of a willow stub and was lined 

 only by the rubbish of sticks and leaves which covered 

 the earth at that place, and contained four eggs. A young 

 male of the species was secured on August 20, 1911, evi- 

 dently a bird reared in the neighborhood, possibly by the 

 same pair whose nest I found the following year. 



31. Numcnius amcricamis Bechstein — Long-billed Curlew. 



On July 11, 1912, Mr. Bovee, a ranchman living near 

 the Reserve station, told me that he had seen a family 

 of Long-billed Curlews, old and young, in the river val- 

 ley near his place only the day before. I attempted to find 

 them on the following day but was unsuccessful in catch- 

 ing sight of them, although that evening I heard the 

 call of one overhead when it was too dark to see the 

 bird itself. This one was flying in the direction of Mr. 

 Bovee 's place and may well have been one of the birds 

 he saw. 



