58 Bii-d-IJfc ill Labrador. 



all flying in different directions to r^und .some iiill or crest of 

 land, or sinip!y circle in the air, would Ibrni again with a 

 .s/ui.sA, and the whole sweep majestically to the kelp and begin 

 to feed in common. ISfost of the specimens obtained at this 

 season of the year (Octol)er 8) had a worn and faded look, 

 iind were not nearly as plump or as well j)lumaged as speci- 

 mens that I shot later whicii had bright chestnut edgings to 

 nearly all the upper feathers. One of these s})e('imens had 

 the head and neck nearly clear ash, of a very minute pattern. 

 I often found specimens where the tail feathers were half 

 black (the upper and side ones) and half wliite. I greatly 

 suspect that Triiu/a hairdil, that rare sandi)iper, ixars a 

 strongei" relation to certain forms perhaps of adult, worn 

 breeding plumage of T. boiia/jartii than is generally believed. 

 A single specimen that I secured resembled the bairdii form 

 so closely that I will describe it from my note book : 8e])- 

 tember 30, Old Fort Island. I to-day shot a bird that an- 

 swers nearly to the description of T. bairdii. I ])icked it out 

 of a mess of some eighty of boiutpartii that I shot one morn- 

 ing for breakfast, but before T could skin it, though I laid it 

 one side (;are(ully, either the cat eat it or it was j)icked and 

 j)otted. I never could find out where it disaj)peared. Its 

 measurements were : length, 7.25 ; extent, 15 ; wing, 5 ; tail, 

 2.25 ; bill rather less than one inch and yet more than .88 ; 

 tarsus, .88 ; middle toe and claw, .88 ; hind toe and claw, .18 ; 

 bill and feet black. There were no chestnut markings that I 

 could observe anywhere, the whole ])lumage being grayish and 

 black, and looking like a fiided specimen of T. boiiapartii. 

 The two middle feathers of the tail coverts, I believe, alone 

 were perfiectly black. I have examined a large series of boiia- 

 pr/rfii and found them with coverts varying from perfectly 

 white to strongly edged with blacds. The specimen might 

 have been a Summer plumage and found i-arely excejiting in 

 latitudes where the bird breeds oi- even there not common. 

 The bright bay or chestnut edgings to the feathers of back 

 aiul shoulders apfxai' only in late h^'all, so far as I could dis- 



