88 The Wilson Bulletin — No. GO. 



57. '*Aclitis )ii(iculari(i, — Spotted .SandpiiJer. 



A common suinmor resident and breeder. In June, 1S84, Saunders 

 found this species breeding ?o abundantly on the west shore, "That 

 a sliort wallv was nearly sure to Hush one from the nest." Unlike all 

 the other waders that occur on the Point it is at all times of its oc- 

 currence as conmion on tlie west shore as on the east. We have al- 

 ways found it in numbers in ^ilay, but our fall visits have usually 

 been a little late to find more than the stragglers. Sept. 3 to 18, 1905, 

 we saw from two to four daily. In 190G it was common from the 1st 

 to 3d, but from the 15th to 22d, our later visit, we saw but a couple the 

 first date and one the 21st. There were quite a number pre.sent from 

 August 24 to the end of the month, in 1907, but after that it was but 

 stray individuals and couples that were noted. One of these last was 

 caught in the hand by Mr. N. A. Wood, being incapable of sustained 

 flight. On dissection nothing could be discovered to account for such 

 a condition except that it was so abnormally fat that the conclusion 

 was almost forced upon us that it was too fat to fly. 



58. yumenius hudsoniciis? — (Hudsonian?) Curlew. 



The residents tell us of the flocks of Curlew that visit the end of 

 the Point in June. Saunders records Curlew in June, 1884 ; and May 

 30, 1907, he and Taverner saw a flock of 15 on the east beach. No 

 specimens have been secured and the exact specific designation of the 

 individuals seen remains in doubt. As Saunders says, "The Hudsou- 

 ian has always been an abundant migrant on a certain few days in 

 the spring, at favored localities, and the other (Long-billed) always 

 rare." Further researches have convinced us that we would be war- 

 ranted in putting the case in even stronger language than this, and 

 the probability, almost amounting to certainty, is that these are Hud- 

 souian Curlew, but until specimens are actually examined the species 

 must be regarded as hypotheical. 



59. *Sqiiatarola squatarola, — Black-bellied Plover. 



A common fall migrant. We have no record of its occurrence in 

 spring. We have found numbers of Black-bellied Plover on the beach 

 and the mud banks of the marsh on all September visits, and took one 

 Oct. 15, 1906. Sept. 15, 1905, five or six were observed with black 

 underparts and tlie next day Klugh saw a couple more in like plum- 

 age ; but it was not until August 25, 1907, that any such specimens 

 were taken. For the first three days after this date all seen were in 

 varying stages of the black phase. Then a white-belly was taken and 

 the black ones decreased in numbers until the 29th, when the last one 

 was observed ; after which all were white underneath. In common 

 with most of the waders the adplts seem to arrive in the fall earlier 

 than the juveniles, and to leave first. It is rare to find a straggling 

 adult after the rest of its kind have left, but the younger birds often 

 linger on for a long time after their elders have gone. This species is 



