254 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Davenport Counties, Mont. [July 



M. J. Elrod of the University of Montana. I saw a godwit on April 7. 

 1890, near the Crow Rock, Dawson County, but could not ascertain the 

 species. 



47. Totanus melanoleucus. Greater Yelloav-legs. — Not common 

 like the next. I saw numbers on Tongue River in the fall of 1892. One 

 shot on Powder River in the fall of 1889. 



48. Totanus flavipes. Yellow-legs. — Common in fall. 



49. Helodromas solitarius. Solitary Sandpiper. — Common in fall. 



50. Symphemia semipalmata inornata. Western Willet. — Irregular 

 migrant. May 25, 1902, a flock of eleven willets alighted near the Terry 

 ferry boat and George Tusler (deputy sheriff) killed an adult male with 

 his revolver. The remaining ten uttered loud shrill cries but did not go 

 far away. May 27, 1903, six willets were seen at the edge of the Yellow- 

 stone. September 5, 1903, when my wife and I were in a buggy, seven 

 willets flew up the road towards us and alighted at a waterhole half a mile 

 from Terry. September 8, 1903, we saw nine willets standing in the 

 Yellowstone. Mr. J. H. Price has never met with this bird and Captain 

 Thorne reports it as "rather rare in spring. About twelve seen in all." 



51. Bartramia longicauda. Bartramian Sandpiper. — Common, ar- 

 riving the middle of May. These sandpipers are nowhere so abundant 

 in Custer County as on the big prairie flat, some twenty-five miles across, 

 which extends from about four miles south of Terry to the pine hills. 

 Numbers breed here, and two or three pairs bred annually upon my ranch 

 in Custer County or that of Mr. H. Tusler adjoining, which mark the north- 

 ern boundary of this plain. The birds made no nest but laid four eggs in 

 the center of a tussock of grass, which are invisible from outside, and above 

 the level of the ground upon the pressed down herbage. In one instance 

 the sitting bird was so tame that she remained only two feet from her eggs 

 when flushed and would peck at an extended forefinger. Nestlings are 

 seen early in July. 



The Bartramian Sandpiper appears less numerous in Dawson County. 



52. Actitis macularia. Spotted Sandpiper. — Common. Breeds along 

 the Yellowstone, as I have seen the young birds but never happened 

 actually to discover a nest. On May IS, 1905, counted twenty Spotted 

 Sandpipers along the Yellowstone shore. 



53. Numenius longirostris. Long-billed Curlew. — A very common 

 summer visitor, arriving about the middle of April. Curlews nest all over 

 the prairie and in the fenced pastures of ranches, the young being all 

 hatched out before the middle of June. Eggs have been found as early as 

 the first week in May. Curlews lay four eggs on the dry open uplands, 

 in a hollow of the plain lined with dried grass; they are difficult to find 

 unless a flock of sheep or bunch of horses are driven over the ground which 

 force the sitting birds from their nests. The incubating curlews will 

 allow horses to all but tread upon them, and they look so like ''buffalo 

 chips" as to be easily mistaken for them at a little distance. If the female 



