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272 



PR^COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLiE. 



m^ 



According to Mr. N. B. Moore, this species, as well as T.Jiavipes, was observed by 

 him during every month of the year on the waters of Sarasota Bay, in Florida. It 

 exliibited no evidence of nesting, nor did its relative. t\n\tf(tiilj)es — which hitter is tlir 

 more numerous, both in the summer and in the winter. On one occasion a tlo(;k ol 

 tweiity-tive of tlie f/arijjcs was seen in an oozy lagoon. When the ponds are (piite 

 low, in June and July, both sjiecies feed in a very curious manner. A mass of black 

 ooze lies just below the surface of the water, on the hard sandy bed. As many as six 

 or eight birds, of one species alone, or of both together, may be seen ruiuiing at full 

 speed, one behind the other, and swee])ing rapidly from side to side, so as to descrilje 

 a half-circle, with tiu'ir bills immersed in the water. This is contiinied for a certain 

 distane;', and then tlu^ birds all turn round and go back over the same ground, repeat- 

 ing this advance and retreat a second time even. No one can doubt that they aic 

 procuring food of some kind, in what the observer mentioned describes as an " impet- 

 uous and giddy race ;" yet no halt is made either to snatch or swallow anything, 

 neither can they be assisted by their eyes in finding their food. Mr. Moore believes 

 this to consist of the aninuilcuhe which abound in the oozy matter, and that it is 

 taken in by mere suction. 



Si)ecimens were collected in August at Moose Factory and at Rupert House by 

 Mr. J. M'Kenzie, and at Sitka and near Fort Kenai by Mr. Bischoff. A single speci- 

 men is reported by Mr. Kunilien as having been seen by him on Arctic Island. 

 Cumberland Sound, Sept. 14, 1877. 



This species occurs generally in the West Indies. Gundlach includes it in his 

 List of the Birds of Cuba. Gosse mentions obtaining a single individual at Spanisli- 

 town on the 21st of March, and was informed by Mr. Hill that in the succeeding 

 month it bcTane exceedingly abundant, so that it was obtained by the market sports- 

 men in quite extraordinary numbers. According to Leotaud, it visits Trinidad at about 

 the same period, and remains there about the same length of time, as the_j^«t-v}*c,s'. 

 to which bird it has a very marked resemblance, and which — when not solitary — it 

 usually accompanies. A few remain during the winter and keep about the pools. 

 It has a very emphatic cry, that sounds like chin-chin, by which name it is known in 

 Trinidad. Its flesh is not considered as very good. 



Mr. C. W. Wyatt met with it near La Cruz, in Colombia, and it has been found in 

 other portions of South America, as far south as Chili. 



Mr. Dresser mentions this bird as being common near San Antonio during the 

 winter season, until the month of April, after which he did not notice it, although it 

 was seen on Galveston Island in June. 



This species is supposed to breed in Labrador, where it is said to have been found 

 in great numbers along the shore all through the summer and in the early fall. 

 Though seen in all situations near the water, the favorite localities of this bird seem 

 to be muddy fiats laid bare by the tide, and the pools in the adjoining salt-marshes. 

 Eichardson found this bird very abundant on the Saskatchewan Plains, but did not 

 discover its nest. He quotes Hutchins as having written that it has four eggs, which 

 are of a dark ground-color, spotted with black, and large for the size of the bird. 



It was found on the Amoor River by Schenck, in Siberia by Middendorff, and in 

 the La Plata region by Burmeister — the latter stating that it is everywhere abundant 

 throughout that country on the banks of lakes and rivers. 



Audubon says that this species spends the winter along the shores of the estuaries, 

 rivers, ponds, and ricj-fields from Maryland to Mexico ; and that it is abundant in 

 South Carolina and Florida and on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, as far as Texas. 

 where he noticed it in considerable numbers, and where it paired in the months ot 



