I 



' 





288 



IMl.KC'Ol'I.VL (H!AI,LAToUE8 — LIMlCoL.K. 



by any (loiiu'stic can's or ivspoiisiltilitit's, hcj^in their southprn Hinht somo time bet'oir 

 tlic otiitTS, will) laiiMt: wait i'or tiif maturity of tlicir iirnod.s. Kc tlit'.sf coiijiM'turcH as 

 tiicy may, we tiiid. all over tin- couiitiy. in the interior, on Imtli coasts, even at places 

 suriirisin^,'ly tar I'roni any of their known l)rce(lin;,'-i)laees. tiiat tiiis bird is sure 

 to reappear in small numbers in July — this early reappearance renuiiniiif,' as yet 

 unexplained. 



Mr. li .Vdams (•• ibi.s," 1H7.S), in his Notes on IJirds observed by him on the Sea- 

 coast of Alaskii, nientiims nieetinj,' with this species at Norton Sound as early as the 

 14th of April, while! the snow still covered the j^reater part of the j^round ; they were 

 not, however, seen in <^Yv:\l nnndters until the niiddh- of the following; month. They 

 confined themselves almost solely to the salt-marsh and the nniddy banks of the 

 river, where it was reached by the tide ; at such points they were always to be found, 

 in Hocks of from tifty to a hnndreil, accompanied by a fewDuidins and IJrown Snipes. 

 Mr. Adams often sat on a lo;,' while they v, ere feedinj; all around within ii foot of 

 him ; but on his making the slij,'htest movement, they were gone in an instant, witii 

 a whisk and a twitter. Their nests were placed on the higher ground surrounding 

 the marsh ; the eggs are described as spotted with shades of olive-green, principally 

 about the large end, and upon a i)ale brownish ground. 



It is quite probable that here and there, in favorable situations, pairs of these 

 birds stoj) to breed in excei)tionally smithern latitudes. Mr. Nelson states that on 

 the oth of .lune, lH7n, he found one of them building its nest near the Calunu't 

 liiver, in Northeastern Illinois; and several of this species were observed by Mr. 

 Kic,e near Waukegan on the 1st of July, they having, as he telt assured, nested in 

 th.at vicinity. We are not aware, however, that the eggs or young (d' this bird have 

 ever been actually taken within the limits of the United States. 



Mr. Dall obtained a s])ecimen of this bird at Xidato, May 14, where it is not com- 

 mon. It was more plentiful at the month of the Yukon, where its eggs were procured. 

 lie met with it also at I'opoff rslund, (Uie of the Aleutians, June 20, 187U, where it 

 was rather abundant. Mr. IMstdioft" also obtained it at Sitka. 



It is given by Mr. \l. IJrowiu' as one of the common birds of Vanccmver Island. 

 In California, according to Dr. Cooper, it is nearly resident, being ai)sent from the 

 coast only during a part of June and July ; it is frequently seen about inland ponds 

 and marshes in the interior. It occurs in inuuense flocks, during the winter, on tlu' 

 shores of the Pacific in Southern (.!aliforuia ; and on the same coast, much farther 

 south, about the month of the Nagualate Hiver, in (fuatemala, Mr. Salvin found it 

 occurring in considerable mimbers in the month of !March. 



Mr. J. A. Allen met with an occasional specimen of this s]iecies in the Valley of 

 Salt Lake, in Utah, in the month of Se])tend)er; and ^Ir. Ividgway also mentions 

 finding it in Utah and Colorado dining its migrations. 



On the Atlantic coast it is, if anything, even more common and abundant. Along 

 the si ores of Hudson's IJay and Davis Straits, throughout Labrador, and on the 

 isl.andL larther south, it is a summer resident from June to the close of its short 

 season. It is abundant, both in the spring and in the fall, along the entire Atlantic 

 coast, a certain proportion remaining all the winter, or from October to April, on the 

 coast of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and all the Gulf States, to Mexico, and 

 thence to South America. It is .also abundant in the West India Islands, occurring 

 in Cuba, Jamaica, as well as in various other islands, from Scjitember to the follow- 

 ing May. It visits the Bermudas in its southern migrations, arriv ing there from the 

 last of July to the first part of November, and being present, at times, in flocks of 

 many hundreds. 



