EXPEDITION TO POINT BAllllOW, ALASKA. 109 



numbers along the coast, near the station and round the muddy puddles in the village, and \vero 

 <iuito abundant Tor two or three weeks. 



They were exceedingly tame, and for several nights in the middle of August, 1882, three or four 

 came round the back door and the cook's refuse heap, making themselves perfectly at home, and 

 allowing one to approach within a few feet of them before they took flight. 



Towards the end of August they grew scarcer, and finally disappeared, in 1881', about the 30th. 



As the Black Turnstone (8. mclanocephala) is such a common bird in the Yukon region and south 

 of Bering Strait generally, one would naturally expect to find it at Point Barrow, particularly 

 as Mr. Nelson reports it from "U'rangel Island. Nevertheless, during the two seasons of our stay 

 at Point Barrow, we did not obtain the slightest evidence of its occurrence in the region. 



513. SQUATAROLA HELVETICA (Linn.) Cuv. 



BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (Ki-rawn). 



This plover is quite rare. It was occasionally seen and heard in the season of 1882, but none 

 were noticed the next summer, and none were secured. 



The natives are perfectly familiar with the bird, and nsc the dried skins as amulets or talismans 

 to secure good luck in deer-hnnting. 



Two such skins tied to a stick represent the species in our collection. The natives told us this 

 bird would arrive later than the Golden Plovers, and this appeared to be the case. 



515. CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS Mull. 



AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER (Tu'dUil.) 



A large series of Golden Plovers collected at Point Barrow, where they are among the com- 

 monest waders, all proved upon careful examination, to belong to this species. It is probable that 

 C. dominicus fulvus does not range so far north on the American coast. 



Indeed, Mr. Nelson's note of the occurrence of this form on Wrangel Island seems to ine to bo 

 rather doubtful, as from his account the bird was only seen and not captured, rendering identifi- 

 cation amost impossible. 



They are among the earlier waders to arrive, as stragglers generally appear about the 20th to 

 the 25th of May, before there is much bare ground. In 1882 a small party in full breeding plu- 

 mage, and apparently all males, arrived May 21, but no more arrived until June 11. The tundra 

 was at this time bare only along the edge of the beach, and the ice and snow was not yet gone 

 from the lagoons. 



This party remained in nearly the same place for a couple of weeks, feeding on small red worms 

 which they found in marshy spots, and all but two of them were taken, although they were very wild. 



Along through the first and second week in June they coatinue to arrive in small parties, and 

 from that time on are quite plenty scattered in pairs and threes all over the tundra. They aro 

 very wild and difficult to approach, and very noisy. In addition to their ordinary well-known call- 

 note, they have in the breeding season a loud but very melodious cry of " Tud'ling I" many times 

 repeated, uttered as the bird flies along rather high, with long slow strokes of the wings. 



They were evidently nesting both seasons before June 20, bnt neither season were we able to 

 find the nest before the 22d or 23d. The nest is exceedingly hard to find, although it is not con- 

 cealed at all, but is simply a depression in the bare black clayey tundra lined with ah' ttle dry 

 moss. The only vegetation on this part of the tundra is white and grayish moss, which harmonizes 

 so extraordinarily with the peculiar blotching of the eggs that it.is almost impossible to see them 

 unless one knows exactly where to look. A favorite nesting site is on the high banks of the gul- 

 lies or small streams. No nests were ever found in the grass or in swampy ground. 



The sitting birds show great solicitude when disturbed, feigning lameness, and trying to attract 

 one away from the nest. They are shrewd enough always to keep quite a distance from the nest, 

 as long as the collector is anywhere in the vicinity of it, and it is simply time wasted to attempt to 

 find the nest by looking for it, as I know by hard experience. The only way to make sure of the 



