4 CHAEA.DEIID.E. 



are satisfactorily mated they quickly go about their nesting, after which each pair 

 limits its range to the immediate vicinity of its treasures. . . . 



" In Dall's paper on the birds of the Territory he records its arrival on the 

 Yukon during the latter part of May, and adds, that its eggs are generally two in 

 number ; but this latter statement must be an error, since the considerable number 

 of nests which I have seen all had complements of four. The young are hatched 

 and on the wing during July, and by the last of September many have already left 

 for the south, but stray individuals are found well into October, the 12th of this 

 month being the last date which I noted." 



Mr. John Murdoch, who accompanied the United States Expedition to Point 

 Barrow, Alaska, 1881-1883, states that the American Golden Plover was among 

 the commonest waders in this region. Mr. Murdoch A^aites * : — " They are 

 among the earlier waders to arrive, as stragglers generally appear about the 

 20th to the 25th of May, before there is much bare ground. In 1882 a 

 small party in full breeding plumage, and apparently all males, arrived May 21, 

 but no more arrived until June 11. The tundra was at this time bare only 

 along the edge of the beach, and the ice and snow was not yet gone from the 

 lagoons. 



" This party remained in nearly the same place for a couple of weeks, feeding 

 on small red worms which they found in marshy spots, and all but two of them 

 were taken, although they were very wild. 



" Along through the first and second week in June they continue to arrive in 

 small parties, and from that time on are quite plenty scattered in pairs and threes 

 all over the tundra. They are very wild and difficult to approach, and very 

 noisy. In addition to their ordinary well-knoMU call-note, they have in the 

 breeding season a loud but very melodious cry of ' Tud'ling ! ' many times 

 repeated, uttered as the bird Hies along rather high, with long slow strokes of the 

 wings. 



" They were evidently nesting both seasons before June 20, but neither 

 season were we able to find the nest before the 22nd or 2ord. The nest 

 is exceedingly hard to find, although it is not concealed at all, but is simply 

 a depression in the bare black clayey tundra lined with a little dry moss. The 

 only vegetation on this part of the tundra is white and grayish moss, which 

 harmonizes so extraordinarily with the peculiar blotching of the eggs that it is 

 almost impossible to see them unless one knows exactly where to look. A 



* ' Keport of the InternatioDal Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska : Birds,' by John 

 Murdoch, pp. 109, 110. 



