1S90.I Scott on Birds at the Dry Tortugas. 3^9 



21. ./Egialitis semipalmata. Skmipalmated Plover. — A single one 

 was taken on April 22 by Dr. Goodman. 



22. /Egialitis meloda circumcincta. Belted Piping Plover. — A 

 single individual of this subspecies was secured on March 27. It is a 

 male. 



23. Arenaria interpres. Turnstone. — A small flock of perhaps ten or 

 twelve of these birds was frequently seen during my stay, and a few 

 representatives were secured. 



I had expected to find at the Dry Tortugas many water birds, — that is, 

 great flocks of Gulls and Terns and Plover and Sandpipers; and it would 

 seem an ideal place for all these kinds of birds. The falling tide exposes 

 much reef that seems fairly to swarm with minute marine animal life, 

 and the sand beaches reach clown to such shoal water that in many places 

 it is almost impossible to land a boat save on extreme high tide. Small 

 fish could be seen in great schools in the areas of shoal water and it 

 appeared to be altogether just the place for myriads of Gulls. But the 

 kinds of Gulls and Terns that were noticed during my stay were 

 not represented by large numbers of individuals, and the beach birds 

 were insignificant. The list of water birds that I have presented only 

 includes twenty-three species; and of these seven were added to the list 

 by Dr. Goodman after my departure, so that sixteen species of water birds, 

 represented by but comparatively small numbers of individuals, were all 

 that were seen at the Dry Tortugas between March 20 and April 10, — a 

 period of three weeks. 



But if water birds were not where I had hoped to find them, land birds 

 were present in numbers; and it was with increasing surprise that each 

 day of my stay discovered some unlooked-for species that, in planning my 

 trip to these islands for Noddies and rare Terns, for Boobies and perhaps 

 some water wanderers among the Petrels, were not even thought of. The 

 result of the collections and observations produces a little over 

 fifty land birds, two of which were before unrecorded from North 

 America. (See Auk, Vol. VII, No. 3, pp. 264-265.) This is perhaps the 

 more remarkable when I reiterate that so far as my own observation goes 

 and from all that I could gather from other sources not a single land 

 species breeds on any of these keys. 



24. Accipiter velox. Sharp-shinned Hawk. — Dr. Goodman sent me 

 an adult female bird which he procured on May 1. This is the only 

 record I have. 



25. Buteo lineatus alleni. Florida Red-shouldered Hawk. — A 

 single representative of this species visited Garden Key during my stay. 

 I was unable to procure the bird, but had good opportunities to examine it 

 witfTa glass. 



26. Falco peregrinus anatum. Duck Hawk. — A single bird was 

 observed on one occasion on Bird Key and a pair soared round above the 

 fort for an hour or more one afternoon about April 1. 



