Olo Correspondence. Loct. 



than Professor Cooke's earliest for eastern Massachusetts, Feb. 22, 1902. 

 Moreover Cooke gives no fall dates for the Woodcock in Massachusetts, 

 while Brewster gives November 10 as the average date of departure 

 and December 13 as the latest. So in the case of Wilson's Snipe, Cooke 

 gives no dates for spring departures in Massachusetts and no fall dates 

 for that State, all of which he might have obtained from ' Birds of. the 

 Cambridge Region,' besides getting an earlier date for the spring arrival. 

 The Pectoral Sandpiper is known to Massachusetts ornithologists and 

 sportsmen as an abundant fall but rare spring migrant, and is so char- 

 acterized in ' The Birds of Essex County.' Cooke, however, says nothing 

 of its rarity in the East in spring, simply stating that it " has a very pro- 

 nounced southeastward migration in the fall," and that " it is a common 

 migrant throughout the whole of North America east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains." For the Spotted Sandpiper Cooke's latest date for eastern Massa- 

 chusetts is October 14, while Brewster has November 1 and Townsend 

 November 14. The Cartwright records of the Eskimo Curlew given 

 in ' Birds o£ Labrador ' are very full and interesting, covering the dates 

 from July 28 to October 24. These, of course, are omitted from Mr. 

 Cooke's report, which gives only two records of the bird for Labrador, 

 the regular point of departure of the species on its southern migration! 

 Of the Golden Plover, Cooke says that it appears not infrequently at Cape 

 Cod and Long Island. As a matter of fact the species is not extremely 

 rare on other parts of the Massachusetts coast. Townsend's dates for 

 Essex County are Aug. 23-Nov. 2. Cooke misses the second record of 

 Wilson's Plover for Massachusetts, — that of one found by Dr. Townsend 

 in a gunner's bag at Ipswich, May 8, 1904, — and says that it " has wandered 

 once to Massachusetts." 



These notes are only fragmentary, but they are sufficient, I think, to 

 show that Professor Cooke's paper on the distribution and migration of 

 the Shorebirds must be regarded simply as an analysis of the official data 

 of the Biological Survey supplemented by the records of the National 

 Museum and by some reference to the literature, and not, as we are led to 

 expect, a full statement of " all the known facts in regard to this part of 

 their life history." Valuable as they are, it is much to be regretted that 

 these studies were not made complete within their limits; and while we 

 must be grateful to Professor Cooke for bringing these data together and 

 publishing them for the benefit of ornithologists, legislators, and the public 

 in general, it is well to know just what they are and what they are not. 



Yours very truly, 

 West Roxbury, Mass. Francis H. Allen. 



Aug. 29, 1911. 



