128 Correspondence. Ljan. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Cooke's * Distribution and Migration of North American 

 Shorebirds.' 



To THE Editor of 'The Auk: — 



Dear *Sir; — The comments made by Mr. F. H. Allen in 'The Auk' for 

 October, 1911, on certain shortcomings in Cooke's 'Distribution and Mi- 

 gration of North American Shorebirds' seem to call for a few words in 

 reply. I trust to make these as courteous in tone as were the com- 

 ments. 



It is claimed by Mr. Allen that the facts given under the several species 

 are not complete enough to justify the statement made in the introduction, 

 and on a subsequent page, as to the scope of the bulletin. Thus, to show 

 the insufficiency of the data on the breeding and wintering of certain of 

 the Shorebirds, he states that the Northern Phalarope "is a common 

 summer resident in Labrador and breeds along the entire coast," and adds 

 that Cooke might easily have ascertained this by consulting the ' Birds of 

 •Labrador' by Townsend and Allen. The fact is that these authors kindly 

 sent Prof. Cooke a copy of their most excellent work immediately after it 

 was published, that it has been on his desk ever since, and has been fre- 

 quently and profitably consulted. In their statement in regard to the 

 breeding of the Northern Phalarope in Labrador, however, there is reason 

 to believe that the authors are mistaken. Hence their statement, though 

 by no means overlooked, was not accepted. 



The present status of the Northern Phalarope as a breeding bird in 

 Labrador is far from satisfactory. In Vol. Ill of his 'Ornithological 

 Biography,' Audubon gave a circumstantial account of the discovery of 

 the nest and eggs of the bird in Labrador, ending with the statement that 

 "both young and old had departed by the beginning of August." This 

 account of the breeding of the species is explicit enough, and would be 

 entirely satisfactory were it not for the fact that it sharply conflicts with 

 the equally circumstantial account by the same author in his journal, 

 where we find that the only time he mentions seeing the species, is on July 

 29, when he states: 



"I saw this afternoon two, or a pair, of the Phalaropus hyperboreus; 

 they were swimming in a small fresh-water pond, feeding on insects, and 

 no doubt had their nest close by, as they evinced great anxiety at my 

 approach. I did not shoot at them, and hope to find the nest or young; 

 but to find nests in the moss is a difficult job, for the whole country looks 

 alike." It thus appears that up to July 29 he had found no Phalarope 

 nests, and, as it seemed to Prof. Cooke impossible to reconcile the two 

 accounts, he decided to pass by Audubon's breeding record, especially 

 since it has not been substantiated by later investigations. 



