THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. xxviii. April, 1911. No. 2, 



EGGS OF THE SPOON-BILL SANDPIPER (EURYNO- 

 RH YXCH US P YGME US) . 



BY JOHN E. THAYER. 



Plates II and III. 



Last spring I sent an expedition to Wrangel Island in charge 

 of Mr. Johan Koren, with instructions to collect during the sum- 

 mer on the way up and to winter on the island, so that collecting 

 could be begun as soon as possible in the spring of 1911. A vessel 

 was purchased and a crew selected. They sailed from Seattle 

 May 1. All went well until they encountered a terrible storm on 

 May 13, which nearly destroyed the vessel. She was in such 

 bad shape that it was decided to return and hire another boat. 

 This was found impossible and Koren with two of his crew shipped 

 on a trading vessel that was going to touch along the eastern coast 

 of Siberia. 



Mr. Koren thought he could land near Cape Serdze and find the 

 nest of the Spoon-bill Sandpiper {Eurynorhynekus pygmeus), 

 because he had collected a few specimens of this species in this 

 locality the previous year; but the pack ice was so bad that the 

 captain of the vessel was afraid to risk his ship and they had to 

 turn back. 



Captain F. Kleinschmidt, starting on a trading and collecting 

 trip a week earlier than Koren, managed to get to Cape Serdze 

 and had the good fortune to find the first nest and four eggs of 



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