274 Dr. E. Coues — From Arizona to the Pacific. 



the eyelids, a narrow ring of pure white is seen encircling the 

 cornea. The bill is rather bright yellow, the culmen and gonys 

 more greenish ; the hard parts of the mouth the same, the soft 

 fauces light purple or lavender. The insides of the legs and 

 soles of the feet are black ; the outside of the tarsus and dorsum 

 of the foot dull bluish-green ; the centres of each web yellowish 

 flesh-colour. I found their stomachs crammed with a species 

 of slender aquatic grass. 



All these birds were around us while on the bay. A long 



low sandy island lies across its mouth as a breakwater; and on 



the sea-side of this the Doctor assured me I should see another 



bird that does not ever leave the sea-beach itself, and withal so 



rare in collections as to make the acquisition of good specimens 



a matter of some consequence. It was the JEgialites nivosus of 



Cassin, tirst noticed, I believe, by Dr. A. L. Heermann, in the 



Ornithological Report of Lieut. R. S. Williamson's Survey for a 



Pacific Railroad (1859, p. 64), under the name of " Charadrius 



cantianus, Lath.,'' but very different, of course, from any other 



North American or European Plover — so much so, indeed, that 



Bonaparte places it in his genus Leucopolius. It was only a 



few hundred yards from where we landed, on the bay side of 



the island, to the shore of the " far-resounding sea ; " but, by 



racing at full speed through the heavy soft sand, joined to the 



exciting expectation of so soon seeing a new bird, I was quite 



breathless, and my heart was thumping furiously by the time I 



stepped on the moist sand. Yes ! there they were sure enough, 



a flock of snow-white little beauties, dallying so fearlessly with 



the huge waves. I fancy my chagrin and disgust must have 



partaken a little of the sublime when, after blindly blazing 



away into the flock, I picked up a capful of — Sanderlings ! Dr. 



Cooper's cachinations nowise tended to smooth my ruffled mental 



plumage. However, a few moments afterwards a flock of j^. 



nivosus alighted close by me ; and, with a little patience and 



strategy, I soon had a dozen of the lovely birds in my hands. 



They are not at all shy, rather the reverse ; but the hue of their 



backs so exactly corresponds with that of the sand, that it is 



next to impossible to see them until they move. I believe they 



never leave the open sandy beach for laguues or mud-flats. 



