Nov., 1900] 



BIRDS OF THE KOTZEBUE SOUND REGION. 



25 



tering notes were to be heard on all sides. They were flying back and forth over 

 the meadows chasing one another, with shrill, roUing notes uttered so continuously 

 as to become almost inaudible from their monotony. At times in an individual 

 case this trilling would become so intensified as to remind one of the shrill note of 

 the White-throated Swift. As an intruder proceeded across their domain, these 

 sandpipers would rise far ahead of him. Although apparently paying very little 

 attention to him, they were quite loath to return to their nests or young. On 

 June 30th, I found several young not over a day or two old, pretty little puffy 

 balls of down awkwardly stumbling among the grass blades on their slender stilt 

 legs. No eggs were discovered. I took full-fledged juveniles of this species near 

 Cape Blossom on July 20th, 1898. 



Ereunetes occidentalis I^awr. 

 Western Sandpiper. 



Full-fledged juveniles of this species were secured at Cape Blossom July 23 

 and August 6, '98, and I am sure of seeing others between these dates, though E. 

 occidentalis and E. pusillus are difficult to distinguish at a distance. No adults, 

 however, of the Western Sandpiper were found at Cape Blossom, and I am 

 inclined to think this species is entirely replaced at the head of Kotzebue Sound 

 in the breeding season by E. pusilhis. At a point on the Alaskan coast twenty 

 miles northeast of Cape Prince of Wales the Western Sandpiper was a tolerably 

 common species, while none of the other form were obtained. At this point, on 

 June 27 and 28, '98, the Western vSandpipers were scattered out over the tundras 

 near the coast, and their trilling call was often heard. A set of four fresh eggs 

 was secured on the 28th, together with the male parent, which was flushed from 

 the nest. The nest was a neatly-rounded hollow sunk into a mossy hummock and 

 surrounded by marshy ground. There was no lining except that afforded by the 

 moss and grass in which the nest was situated. The eggs are pale clay-color, 

 quite heavily spotted, especially at the larger ends, with bistre, burnt umber, ecru- 

 drab and drab. The eggs are subpyriform in shape, and measure 1.06X.79, 

 1.13X.80, 1.15X.79, 1.08X.79. 



Limosa lapponica baueri (Naum.). 

 Pacific God wit. 



This was the only species of godwit detected by me in the region under con- 

 sideration. It was tolerably common at Cape Blossom and in the Kowak delta in 

 June and July, but was not observed elsewhere. The godwits were generally 

 found around marshy places far out on the tundra in much the same environment 

 as the Hudsonian Curlew. I found no nests but I have no doubt that the species 

 was breeding. The native name for the godwit is She-to'b'uk. The fourspecimens 

 of the Pacific Godwit preserved, measure as follows: 



Number 

 Coll. J. G. 



3757 



3756 



3755 



3754 



Sex 



Date 



Locality Length 



(5 June 20, 'ggKowak Delta 



^ June 14, '99 Kowak Delta 



$ Ijune 17, '99 Kowak Delta 



9 July 10, 'gSCape Blos'm 



1550 



15.00 



17-50 



Wing 



8.62 



8.40 



9.12 



9-50 



2.25 



2.27 



4-33 



452 



