156 Lawrence on the Gi^eater Long-Beak. 



another feature, and that is in having the feathers of the bi-east and 

 abdomen edged with a lighter rufous or white, this being particularly 

 strongly marked on a specimen in the collection of Mr. George N. 

 Lawrence taken in Florida during the spring of 1879. Li summer 

 specimens of M. griseus, the rufous of the breast blends into white 

 on the abdomen, and the whole is more or less spotted. 



In the notes, which are so characteristic of all the Liniicohe, and 

 in the time of its arrival and departure during the spring and fall 

 migrations, it differs essentially from M. griseus. The note of M. 

 scolopaceus is much louder and clearer, and easily distinguished from 

 the rather plaintive note of M. griseus, bearing about the satTie rela- 

 tion to it as the notes of the Big and Little Yellow-leg bear to each 

 other. 



Mr. George Lawrence Nicholas, in speaking of the capture of a 

 specimen of this bird last summer, on Shinnecock Bay, says : "The 

 note was entirely different from that of a Dowitcher, being made 

 up of several quick sharj) whistles. I am quite sure it is not a 

 Dowitcher, as it is quite different in color, the under parts being 

 like those of Tringa canutus, and only the throat and sides being 

 spotted. Mr. Lane, with whom I was staying, says that for the 

 past three years he has seen these birds in company with the 

 Dowitchers, and they seem to be increasing in numbers. He and 

 the other gunners of the house also say they have never heard this 

 bird give a note anything like that of the Dowitcher." * 



In regard to the spring arrival of this bird, Mr. George N. Law- 

 rence gives March 20 as the earliest date, he having secured several 

 specimens in Fulton Market, N. Y., at that time, from Long Island, 

 which is about six weeks earlier than any recorded capture of M. 

 griseus. The gunners in the vicinity of Rockaway, L. I., make a dis- 

 tinction between the two birds, calling M. scolopaceus the White-tail 

 Dowitcher, and say it is the first to come in the spring, and that 

 during the southern migrations it remains until late in the fall, 

 after the Dowitchers have disappeai'ed. Five of my specimens agree 

 with the pi-evailing opinion of being late migrants ; the sixth is in 

 summer plumage, taken in August, and is my earliest record from 

 Long Island. 



The latest record I can find of this bird is a note by Dr. Thomas 

 M. Brewer,t in which he speaks of the capture of a specimen of 



* "Bird Notes from Long Island," Forest and Stream, Vol. XIV, No. 3. 

 t Bulletin of Nuttall Orth. Club, Vol. IV, No. I, p. 64. 



