ElDGWAY on a neiv Alaskan Sand2nper. 161 



witli white ; greater coverts widely tipped with white, forming a conspicu- 

 ous bar across the wing ; three or four of the inner secondaries chiefly- 

 white, the others, also the inner pi-imaries, narrowly skirted and tipped 

 with white. Rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers, uniform 

 fuliginous-dusky, the remaining rectrices paler, or dull cinereous. A con- 

 spicuous whitish superciliary stripe, extending back to the nape, and con- 

 fluent with the dull whitish of the under side of the head, thus posteriorly 

 bounding a large sooty-brown auricular area ; anterior portion of the lores, 

 with the forehead, dull smoky-grayish ; neck, jugulum, and breast, dirtv 

 whitish (sometimes soiled with dingy buff), and clouded or spotted with 

 dull slate, sooty plumbeous, or dusky black, this sometimes formino- a 

 large patch on each side of the breast ; remaining lower parts pure white, 

 the sides with chain-like series of brownish slaty spots mLxed with streaks, 

 the crissum streaked with dusky ; lining of the wing pure white, the bor- 

 der brownish gray. Bill, legs, and feet brownish black in the dried skin ; 

 iris brown. Winter plumage : Above soft smoky plumbeous, the scapu- 

 lars and interscapulars glossy purplish dusky centi-ally, the plumbeous 

 borders to the feathers causing a squamate appearance ; head and neck 

 uniform plumbeous, except the throat and a supraloral patch, which are 

 streaked whitish ; jugulum squamated with white, the breast similarly but 

 more broadly marked. Wings, etc., as in summer. Youncj, Jirst plumage : 

 Scapulars and interscapulars black, broadly bordered with bright rusty 

 and buffy white, the latter chiefly on the longer and outer scapulars and 

 posterior part of the back; wing-coverts broadly bordered with bufTy 

 white ; pileum streaked black and ochraceous ; jugulum and breast pale 

 buff, or buffy white, streaked with dusky. Downy young : Above bright 

 rusty fulvous, irregularly mottled with black, the back, wings, and rump 

 ornamented by yellowish- white downy flecks or papillas ; head above deep 

 fulvous brown, with a longitudinal stripe of velvety black from the fore- 

 head to the occiput, where confluent with a cross band of the same, the 

 lores with two nearly parallel longitudinal streaks of black ; there are 

 also other, rather indefinite, black markings, chiefly on the superciliary 

 and occipital regions. Lower parts white, becoming distinctly fulvous 

 laterally. 



Wing, 4.50-5.15 (4.86) inches; culmen, 0.98-1.25 (1.13); tarsus, 

 0.88 - 1.00 (0.95) ; middle toe, 0.78 - 0.90 (0. 86). (Extreme and average 

 measurements of 14 adults.) 



Hab. — Aleutian Islands and coast of Alaska, north to St. Michael's. 



The present species is closely allied to Arquatella maritima 

 (Briinu.), and can scarcely be distinguished in its winter plumage. 

 A close comparison, however, shows that in this livery A. coicesi has 

 decidedly less of the purple gloss to the dorsal region, where the 

 plumbeous borders to the feathers are both broader and paler; 



VOL. V. 11 



