542 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



suppose that the eminent explorer claims special proficiency 

 in the study of ornithology, but an examination of his 

 narrative ' Nearest the Pole ' shews that little or nothing 

 in the shape of bird-life escaped his observant eye. I 

 think, however, that I shall unquestionably prove that he 

 has given the name of Purple Sandpiper to the Knot 

 {Tringa canutus). The Purple Sandpiper ( T. striata) is of rare 

 occurrence in Smith Sound and to the northward. Bessels 

 records it from Thank God Harbour in 1872, but omits 

 the Knot. Dr. Coppinger, R.N., found Knots frequent in 

 the same locality during July 1876, and met with one 

 brood of five young ones, but did not note the Purple 

 Sandpiper. Mr. Hart records the Knot as a common 

 breeding species in the neighbourhood of Discovery Bay in 

 1876, but that capable observer did not meet with the 

 Purple Sandpiper, neither did I nor any of my companions, 

 even to the extreme northern limits of Grant Land, in 

 1875-76. There is, however, a definite record by General 

 Greely, who thus writes of the occurrence of the Purple 

 Sandpiper in Grant Land : "A few specimens w'cre seen and 

 obtained by us in 1882-83.^' Greely was well acquainted 

 with the Knot, and records that in his opinion at least 

 twenty pairs nested within two miles of his headquarters at 

 Discovery Bay, in 1882-83, so that with him there could 

 have been no confusion between the two species, but un- 

 doubtedly the Purple Sandpiper is rare in Grant Land. 

 Thirty years ago I pointed out (' Ibis/ 1877, p. 407) that the 

 Knot was to be met with in considerable numbers as a 

 breeding species in Grant Land, as far as its most 

 northern extension ; and this is corroborated by Hart, 

 Coppinger, Greely, and Peary, who under the name of 

 '^ Purple Sandpiper " extends its breeding-range as far as 

 Axel Heiberg Land. Apparently the bright orange-red hue 

 of the lower parts of the Knot in summer plumage attracted 

 Peary^s attention, and he has jotted the bird down as Purple 

 Sandpiper, not meaning by that term Tringa striata, but 

 T. canutvs. I now offer the proofs of this assumption. 

 Peary, shortly after passing Admiral Aldrich^s "^ farthest," 



