SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — ARQUATELLA. 219 



the succeeding year he liad not observed any up to the 1st of October, when he left 

 the country. Mr. Dall procured a single bird of this species a mile or two below 

 Nulato, on the Yukon, and another at Pastolik, but did not find the nest or eggs. 

 He also procured a specimen on St. George's Island, in Behring's Sea, where it was 

 common on the dry uplands and on the hills. BLschoff foinid this species plentiful 

 at Sitka, and also at I'lover Bay, on the Asiatic side of Behring's Straits. Mr. Dall 

 found it a resident of the Aleutian Islands, where it was abundant along the shore 

 tliroughout the year, in all the islands from Unalashka to the Shumagins. Its nest 

 and eggs he was not able to discover. 



This bird visits the Farcie Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Xova 

 Zembla. Von r>aer, in his description of the animal life of the last-named place, 

 mentions the Pur])le Sandpii>er as one of the eight species of birds found there. ;Mr. 

 G. Gillett ('• Ibis,"' 187U) also mentions finding this species on Nova Zembla, where it 

 was very common both in Matthew's Strait and on the eastern coast. One came on 

 board during a storm, and was caught in the hand. When released, it did not oft'er 

 to 11^^ away, but remained on board two tlays. Herr von Heuglin also mentions (■' Ibis," 

 1872) that he found this species very common, and generally in pairs, in this same 

 region. In the autumn it occurred in smaller or larger flocks, and often mingled with 

 the Pelkhia cinrliis and the Tringa m'niutu. On the 8th of August he found nest- 

 lings still very small, and covered with down. The Messrs. Evans and Sturge found 

 the Purple Sandpiper very abundant at Coal Bay in Spitzbergen, and secured four 

 of its nests. These were on the surface of the high field, and they are said to 

 have been beautiful little structures, built deep in the ground, and lined with stalks 

 of grass and leaves of the dwarf birch {Betula nana). They each contained four 

 eggs of an olive-green, handsomely mottled with a purplish-brown, chiefly at the 

 larger end. The writers state that they watched with much interest this elegant 

 little bird as it waded into small pools of snow-water, or ran along the shingle, every 

 now and then raising its wings over its back and exhibiting the delicate tint of the 

 under side, at the same time uttering its loud shrill whistle. Professor Alfred Xew- 

 ton also met with this species on Spitzbergen, where he found it abundant along the 

 coast as far north as Brandywine Bay. Dr. Malmgren informed Professor Xewton 

 that on a former voyage he had observed a flock of this bird on the shores of Kobbe 

 Bay as early as jNIay 28. He afterward saw it in the interior of Stor Fiord, and on 

 Bear Island. According to Professor Newton, it is common everywhere in Iceland 

 in the neighborhood of the coast, and is occasionally to be seen inland, where it also 

 breeds. According to Faber, it is a resident of Iceland throughout the year, and is 

 said to hatch its eggs about the middle of June. It is given by Dr. Middendorff as 

 one of the birds of Siberia, aud is included in the list of those that go to the Far 

 North. 



They are also mentioned by Dr. Eeinhardt as occurring in Greenland, and appear 

 to have been observed on all the voyages of Sir Edward Parry. On the first of these 

 they were seen abundant in Davis's Straits and Baffin's Bay ; during the second they 

 were noticed on the rocks, at low-water mark, on Winter Island, in June ; on the 

 third they were observed at Port Bowen, and on the fourth were found abundant 

 along the shores of Hecla Cove, Sir James C. Ross adding that they were seen in 

 considerable numbers near Fury Point. Eichardson states that this species breeds 

 abundantly on :Melville I'eninsula and on the shores of Hudson's Bay. He describes 

 its eggs as pyriform, 16.50 lines long, and an inch across in its greatest breadth. 

 The ground-color is said to be of a yellowish gray, interspersed with small irregular 

 spots of pale hair-brown, crowded at the obtuse end, and rare at the other. 



