July 1887.] 



a:n'd oologist. 



101 



along a number of birds. Young Black-bellied 

 Plover abundant; }^oung Robin Snipe and San- 

 derlings very conunon. A few Greater Yel- 

 low-legs seen. Sep. 24th, wind north-east to 

 south-east. A Bonaparte Sandpiper shot. A 

 flock of Golden Plover seen leaving the mead- 

 ows and several Hudsonian Curlew noted. 

 Richardson's Jaegers abundant. 



Sep. 30th, wind north-east with light rain. 

 Increase in number of shore-birds. Red-backed 

 Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plover and Robin 

 Snipe abundant. Greater Yellow-legs com- 

 mon. Several Bonaparte Sandpipers seen. 

 Two Great Blue Herons seen on the meadows. 

 Oct. 1st, wind north-west. Greater Yellow- 

 legs increasing in numbers. Several Black- 

 backed Gulls arrived to-day. 'I'he first comers 

 of the Tit Larks appeared. Oct. 2nd, wind 

 north-west. New arrivals this date are Bona- 

 parte and Kittewake Gulls. The shore-birds 

 seem to be decreasing. Mr. Carpenter shot an 

 adult female Duck Hawk in the act of eating a 

 Black-bellied Plover that it had caught. Two 

 Hudsonian Godwit seen on the meadows. Oct. 

 3rd, wind south-east. Several Night Herons seen. 

 Oct. 4th. Black-bellied Plover decreasing. 

 Sanderling common. Several Seniipalmated 

 Sandpipers seen. Pectoral Sandpipers com- 

 mon. Two Hudsonian Godwit seen on the 

 meadow and one shot by Mr. Carpenter. Sev- 

 eral Bonaparte Sandpipers seen on the mead- 

 ows. A few Roseate Tern heard. Oct. 6th. 

 All species of shore-birds except Sanderlings 

 are decreasing. On the 8th Bonaparte Gulls 

 became common and Richardson's Jaegars very 

 abundant. A great decrease in Terns was 

 noticed on the 9th. Tit Larks became abun- 

 dant on the 10th. 



Oct. 11th, wind south-east. Onlj^ a few Tern 

 seen to-day. Red-backed Sandpipers, Seniipal- 

 mated Plover, and Sanderlings are still abun- 

 dant on the high beach at full tide. A number 

 of Black-bellied Plover yet remain. Oct. 22nd, 

 wind north-east ; blew fresh and cool. Black- 

 bellied Plover, Sanderling, Red-backed Sand- 

 piper and Greater Yellow-legs are common. 

 Found only four Pectoral Sandpipers on the 

 meadows. A few common Tern yet remain. 

 Kittewake Gulls noted. Oct. 23rd, wind north- 

 east; blew fresh, cloudy and cold. Several 

 small bunches of Black-bellied Plover seen. 

 A few Sanderlings and Red-backed Sandpipers 

 remain on the flats. Old Squaw Ducks are 

 common. Oct. 24th, wind south to south-west. 

 I left the island to-day, leaving behind mc 

 Herring, Kittewake and Bonaparte Gulls ; Com- 

 mon Tern ; Red-breasted Sheldrake, Long-tail, 



Surf, and Black Duck; Black-bellied Plover, 

 Sanderlings and Red-backed Sandpipers, Great- 

 er Yellow-legs, Tit Larks, Meadow Larks and 

 Black Snow birds. 



Aptosochromatism. 



^4 Tabulated Field Study. 



BY AVALTER HOXIE, FROGMORE, S. C. 



The following table was made at Bull's Point, 

 Apr. 23rd, 1886. The specimens examined were 

 Dunlin. It was my intention at the time to 

 make a similar study of those other species of 

 Shore-birds — the Knot, Sanderling and Black- 

 breasted Plover, but I failed to obtain a suffi- 

 cient number of specimens any one time. I 

 now offer this table for publication together 

 with an explanation of the method used in 

 making it up. And I hope I may receive from 

 some of my co-workers a little more aid this 

 season than I did last, upon this line of investi- 

 gation. 



I first took twelve specimens of Dunlin and 

 numbered them in sequence according to the 

 blackness on the breast. No. 1 was very dark 

 and No. 12 in almost typical winter dress. 

 This column I headed Black. The second col- 

 umn marked "p. f." is intended to show the rel- 

 ative amount of "pin feathers" on the speci- 

 mens — No. 1 having the most and No. 12 the 

 least. Between the last four it was quite diffi- 

 cult to decide with positive exactness. Upon 

 finding that No. 4 was at the head of the list, 

 and that the tips of the pin feathers showed no 

 white., I made a final note on the back of the 

 tag "R. o. t.," which was to signify that on 

 dissection I expected to find the reproductive 

 organs large. That is probably laiger than in 

 some of the specimens above it on the list. 

 Next I skinned and dissected my specimens, 

 placing the number in the first class upon 

 each. I now placed the males and females in 

 separate classes, giving them new numbers but 

 still in accordance with the sequence of '•''Black'''' 

 Nos. Lastly I placed the reproductive organs 

 in their order of size. The order in which they 

 now stand is indicated in the columns marked 

 '•'S. of O." It will now be seen that among the 

 females there is no break in the sequence of 

 numbers. Among the males a probable note 

 was made previous to dissection, which ac- 

 counts for any discrepancy and the close simi- 

 larity of specimens 11 and 12 gave me no cause 

 for disappointment when I found that ray last 

 column would not quite "hitch" at the bottom. 



