188 ALASKA. 



Tofantisjndverulentus, Mull. YerliaiuL, 153, (1844.)— Sciilegel, 



Fauna Japan, pi. 65. 

 Totanus oceanicus, Less. Corap. Buff., 244, (1847.) 

 Tofanus pohjnesia, Peale. ^'oy. Vine, and Peac. ; Birds, 237, 



(1848.) 

 Totanus gnseopygius, Gould. B. Aust., vi, pi. 38. 

 Gamhetia hrevijyts, fidiginosa, jiulverulenia, oceanica, griseopygia, 



Bonaparte. 



Two specimens are contained in Mr. Elliott's collections. 



Migratory regularly, but does not breed here. It comes every 

 year early in June, and subsequently re-appears toward the 

 end of July, when it may be obtained on the rocky beaches. 

 It never visits the uplands, and is a very shy and quiet bird. 



443. IVunieilius borealis, (Forst.) 'LxTn.— Esquimaux Curlew. 



This curlew onlv visits the Prybilov Islands in the same man- 

 ner as the Limosa. It breeds, apparently in great numbers, in 

 the Anderson Eiver region, to judge from the numerous sets of 

 €ggs in the Smith.souian forwarded by Mr. E. Macfarlane. The 

 usual nest-complement is four, made up usually the third week 

 in June. The nest is i)laced on a barren plain, and made of 

 decayed leaves placed under the eggs in a depression of the 

 ground. The eggs vary to the great extent usual among 

 waders. The ground is olive-drab, either tending more .to 

 green, to gray, or to brown in different instances. The mark- 

 ings are always numerous and bold, of the dark chocolate, 

 bister, and sepia browns of different depths, together with the 

 usual stone-gray shell-markings. These always tend to aggre- 

 gation at the larger end, or, at least, are more numerous on the 

 major half of the egg, though the distribution is sometimes 

 nearly uniform, and in no instance is the small end entirely free 

 from spots. In one set the large end is almost completely occu- 

 pied b.y a dense confluence of very dark markings. The smallest, 

 and at the same time shortest, egg measures ouly 1.90 x 1.40 ; 

 the longest and narrowest, 2.12 x 1.33; an average egg is 

 2.00 X 1.45. 



We may refer, in this connection, to a species of curlew lately 

 ascertained to inhabit Alaska, as one which may be esi^ected 

 to occur also on the Prybilov Islands. This iuterestiug addi- 

 tion to our fauna is the Xumcnius femoralis of Peale — a species 

 about as large as N. Imdsonicus, and somewhat resembling it, 

 but readily distinguished by the curious long bristly filaments 

 which tip the abdominal feathers, and otber characters. ^ A 



