SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS 249 



Range. N. and S. Hemispheres. Breeds from n. Ellesmere Land s. to 

 Melville Peninsula and Iceland, and also on Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia; 

 winters s. to s. Patagonia, and from the Mediterranean to S. Africa, India, 

 Australia, N. Zealand; casual in winter on the Atlantic coast of U. S. ; in 

 migration occurs on the Atlantic coast of N. A., and over most of the E. 

 Hemisphere; rare in the interior of N. A., and on the Pacific coast. 



Long Island, not uncommon T. V., May 15- June 10; July 15-Nov. 

 (Butcher). SE. Minn., uncommon T. V., Sept. 7. 



Eggs, one specimen collected in the vicinity of Fort Conger by General 

 Greely, is described as "light pea-green, closely spotted with brown in small 

 specks about the size of apinhead," I'lO x I'OO (see Merriam, Auk, II, 1885, 

 313). A breeding-place of thirty pairs was discovered in northeast Green- 

 land by the Danish expedition of 1906-8. (See Geog. Journ., XXXV, 541 

 and Ibis, 1910, 766.) 



Knots feed along the beaches on the small crustaceans and mol- 

 lusca brought in by the waves, and they also frequent muddy places 

 where, like the true Snipe, they probe the ground for food. They 

 decoy with ease, 'bunching' so closely as they wheel into the stools 

 that the entire flock is sometimes killed by a single discharge. Mr. 

 George H. Mackay, in one of his careful and detailed studies of our 

 Shore Birds, describes their notes as a soft wah-quoit and a little honk. 

 The first is particularly noticeable when flocks are coming to the decoys 

 (see Auk, x, 1893, 25-35). 



235. Arquatella maritima maritima (Brunn.}. PURPLE SANDPIPER. 

 Ads. in summer. Upperparts black, margined with ochraceous-buff and 

 cream-buff; wings fuscous-gray, greater coverts margined with white and 

 some secondaries entirely white; upper tail-coverts fuscous, outer tail- 

 feathers ashy gray, inner ones fuscous; throat and breast brownish gray, 

 streaked with black; belly white, sides and under tail-coverts streaked with 

 brownish gray. Ads. and Juv. in winter. Head, neck, breast, and sides 

 ashy, the two latter margined with white; back fuscous, margined with ashy; 

 wings fuscous, the coverts, secondaries, and tertials distinctly bordered with 

 white; upper tail-coverts and middle tail-feathers black or fuscous, outer 

 tail-feathers ashy; belly and linings of the wings white. L., 9'00; W., 5'00; 

 Tar., 9-00; B., 1'40. 



Remarks. The brownish gray or ashy breast of this species is a good 

 distinguishing character. 



Range. N. Hemisphere. Breeds from Melville Is., Ellesmere Land, and 

 n. Greenland s. to Melville Peninsula, Cumberland Sound, and s. Greenland, 

 and in Norway, Russia, Siberia, Iceland, and Faroe Islands; winters from s. 

 Greenland and N. B., to L. I.; casual in migration to the Great Lakes, Ga., 

 Fla., and Bermuda, and in the E. Hemisphere s. to Great Britain and the 

 Mediterranean. 



Long Island, uncommon W. V., Nov. 1-Mch. 1 (Dutcher). Cambridge, 

 one instance, Oct. 



Eggs, 34, olive clay-color or brownish ashy, heavily marked with rufous- 

 brown, 1'45 x 1*08. Date, Umanak, Greenland, June 19; Faroe Ids., May 31. 



This bird might be called Winter Snipe or Rock Snipe. Indeed, I 

 find the latter name has been applied to it from its habit of frequent- 

 ing rocky coasts, where it secures its food in the algae attached to rocks 

 exposed by the falling tide. 



239. Pisobia maculata (VieilL). PECTORAL SANDPIPER. Ads. in 

 summer. Upperparts black, the feathers all heavily bordered with pale 



