244 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



allowing one to approach closely, not even suspending its occu- 

 pation of searching for food. Should a gun be discharged as 

 the little company draws itself together, the survivors fly a short 

 distance in a compact flock, uttering a low, soft /wee/, exhibit- 

 ing the upper- and then under-side of the body as they wheel 

 and turn swiftly, and then frequently alight near the very spot 

 where their companions were slaughtered. When on the wing 

 it is recognisable by its white upper tail-coverts, which are very 

 conspicuous. In Labrador it is very abundant, frequenting 

 the rocky shores covered with sea-weed or green and slippery 

 from the flying spray. It also resorts to muddy flats and shal- 

 low pools, into which it wades up to the breast in search of 

 marine insects and various animalculae, on which it feeds. It 

 is rather a common bird at certain seasons on the shores of 

 Lake Michigan, having been taken in Illinois, and also in 

 Michigan. In the far north it is a straggler at Point Barrow in 

 Alaska, and also breeds on the Mackenzie river. MacFarlane 

 found the nest on the shore of the Arctic Sea, and on the Bar- 

 ren Ground. This was merely a depression in the ground 

 lined with a few decayed leaves, and contained three or four 

 eggs, rufous-drab in colour, blotched with dark brown or black, 

 confluent at the larger end, and measuring 0-35 inch long by 

 O'95 broad." 



II. THE SHARP-TAILED PECTORAL SANDPIPER. HETEROPYGIA 

 ACUMINATA. 



Totarius acuminata, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 192 (1821). 

 Tringa acuminata^ Seebohm, Ibis, 1893, PP* J 8 1-183, pL v. 



Adult Male in Breeding Plumage. General colour above sandy- 

 rufous, streaked with black down the centre of the feathers, 

 these black centres being much more distinct on the scapulars 

 and inner secondaries, where the rufous margins are very 

 bright ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts dusky-black, 

 the lateral ones sandy-rufous barred with black ; lesser wing- 

 coverts dull brown ; the median-coverts brown with blackish 

 centres and ashy fulvous margins ; the greater coverts uniform 

 dusky-brown with white tips ; bastard-wing uniform brown ; 

 the primary-coverts bja.ckish, trig inner ones tipped with white; 



