2 SCOLOPACID^. 



it is found throughout the United States, though irregularly and rather sparsely in 

 the north-east ; becoming more plentiful in Louisiana (where the specimen which 

 Vieillot described was obtained), and thence southward to Mexico. It visits the 

 Bermudas, Cuba, Trinidad, and probably other islands in the West Indies, passing 

 the winter in South America down the Rio de la Plata." 



Mr. R. MacFarlane gives the following notes respecting the BufF-breasted 

 Sandpiper * : — " This species is common in the Barren Grounds east of Horton 

 River and on the Arctic coast. Between the 26th of June and the 9th of July 

 upwards of twenty sets of eggs were secured, and there were four in every nest, 

 which was a mere depression in the soil, scantily lined with a few withered leaves 

 and dried grasses. When the nest was approached the female parent usually 

 made a low flight to a short distance." 



Dr. Coues describes the eggs of this species as follows f : — " Of the very rare 

 and scarcely known eggs of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper I have examined about a 

 dozen sets in the Smithsonian, all collected by Mr. MacFarlane in the Anderson 

 River region and along the Arctic coast to the eastward. They are very pointedly 

 pyriform. The following measurements indicate the size, shape, and limits of 

 variation: 1-50 by I'OS; 1-48 by llO; 1-45 by 1'02; 1-40 by 1-04. The ground 

 is clay, sometimes with a slight olivaceous or drab shade, oftener with a clear 

 grayish cast, of rather peculiar shade. The markings are extremely bold and 

 sharp, though not heavier than usual. Taking a specimen in which the markings 

 are most distinct, we find heavy blotches and spots of indeterminate size and 

 shape all over the egg, but largest and most numerous on the major half of the 

 egg, of rich umber-brown, deeper or lighter according to the quantity of pigment. 

 Nearest these blotched varieties come the splashed ones, in which the markings 

 mass more heavily about the larger end, and are elsewhere splattered over in 

 rather small markings. This is the more frequent pattern ; and in some cases the 

 splashing hides the ground-color at the large end. Other examples are spotted 

 with rather narrow markings that seem to radiate from the large end, becoming 

 largest and thickest around the greatest diameter of the egg, and being much 

 smaller elsewhere. All the eggs have the usual neutral or stone-grey shell- 

 markings, and in most of them there are at the large end a few spots or scrawls of 

 blackish over all the other max'kings. According to the labels, the nidification is 

 not peculiar, the nest being a slight depression of the ground, lined with a few 

 dried grasses or leaves. The eggs arc four in a majority of instances." 



* ' Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum,' vol. siv. 1S91, p. 428. 

 t ' Birds of the North-West,' p. 507. 



