58 Bird-Life in Labrador. 



all flying in different directions to round some hill or crest of 

 land, or simply circle in the air, would form again with a 

 xhufih, and the whole sweep majestically to the kelp and begin 

 to feed in common. Most of the specimens obtained at this 

 season of the year (October 8) had a worn and i'aded look, 

 and were not nearly as plump or as well plumaged as speci- 

 mens that I shot later which had bright chestnut edgings to 

 nearly all the upper feathers. One of these specimens had 

 the head and neck nearly clear ash, of a very minute pattern. 

 I often found specimens where the tail feathers were half 

 black (the upper and side ones) and half white. I greatly 

 suspect that Tmiga bairdii, that rare sandpiper, bears a 

 stronger relation to certain forms perhaps of adult, worn 

 breeding plumage of T. bonapartii than is generally believed. 

 A single specimen that I secured resembled the bdirdn form 

 so closely that I will describe it from my note book : Sep- 

 tember 30, Old Fort Island. I to-day shot a bird that an- 

 swers nearly to the description of T. bnirdii. I picked it out 

 of a mess of some eighty of bonaportii that I shot one morn- 

 ing for breakfast, but before I could skin it, though I laid it 

 one side carefully, either the eat eat it or it was picked and 

 potted. I never could find out where it disappeared. Its 

 measurements were : length, 7. 2o ; extent, lo ; wing, 5 ; tail, 

 2.2o ; bill rather less than one inch and yet more than .88 ; 

 tarsus, .88 ; middle toe and claw, .88 ; hind toe and claw, .18 ; 

 bill and feet black. There were no chestnut markings that I 

 could observe anywhere, the whole plumage being grayish and 

 black, and looking like a faded specimen of T. boiiapcuiii. 

 The two middle feathers of the tail coverts, I believe, alone 

 were perfectly black. I have examined a large series of boiiu- 

 }KU'tn and found them with coverts varying from perfectly 

 white to strongly edged with black. The specimen might 

 have been a Summer plumage and found rarely excepting in 

 latitudes where the bird breeds or even there not common. 

 The bright bay or chestnut edgings to the feathers of back 

 and shoulders appear only in late Fall, so far as I could dis- 



