SCOLOrACID-E - THE SNIPE FAMILY — ARQUATELLA. 221 



fieri strut, raises its wings over its back, and then slowly folds them. The bird is 

 crepuscular in its habits, which in some respects appear to be different from those of 

 most of its family. It is found almost exclusively on rocky shores of the sea, and 

 shuns sandy beaches. It is seldom known to occur far inland. It is a very unsus- 

 picious bird, and when intent on its food seems to be almost entirely regardless 

 of the near presence of man. Its flight is rapid, and can belong sustained in its 

 migrations. This bird is known to hunters as the " Kock Snipe." An egg of this 

 species from Greenland has a ground of a drab color tinged with olivaceous. The 

 egg is pyriform in shape, but is more oval than that of Arquatdla ptilocnemis, which 

 in some respects it closely resembles. The egg is marked with blotches of sepia- 

 brown, and these are more or less diffused over the entire surface. The eggs in 

 my cabinet — one from Greenland, and others from different localities — average 1.46 

 inches in length, by 1.10 in their greatest breadth. In some the olivaceous tinge of 

 the ground is much deeper than in others. The spots vary in their number, size, 

 and distribution, in some the snudler end being nearly unspotted. 



Arquatella Couesi. 



THE ALEUTIAN SANDPIPER. 



1. Tringa arquatdla, (part) P.A.LL. Zoog. Rosso^As. II. 1821, 190 (spec, ex Ins Curilica). 



Tringa inarUima," Brunn." D.\ll & Bank. Tr. Chicago Acad. 1. 1869, 291 (St. Michael's, Alaska). — 



FiNSCH, Abh. Nat. III. 1872, 65 (Alaska). 

 Tringa (Pdidim) amcricana, D.\I,L. Pr. C'al. Auail. Sci. Feb. 1873 (Aleutians). 

 Arquatdla Couesi, Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, V. July, 1880, 160 (Aleutian Islands) ; Nom. N. 



Am. B. 1881, no. 531. — Coue-s Check Li.st, 2d ed. 1882, no. 621. 



Sp. Char. Similar to A. maritiiiut, Brunn., Ijut averaging slightly smaller, and the plumage 

 appreciably different at all ages and seasons. Adult breeding-dress : Ahove, fuliginous-slate, the 

 feathers of the pileum broadly edged, those of the dorsal region (including the scapulars) widely 

 bordered, with rusty ochraceoiis or bright cinnamon (a few of the scapulars and interscapulars 

 tipped with white in some specimens), the central area of each feather nearly black, or nuich darker 

 than the wings anil rump ; lesser wing-coverts slightly, and middle coverts bruadly, bordered 

 terminally with white ; greater coverts widely tipped with white, forming a conspicuous bar across 

 the wing ; three or four of the iimer secondaries chiefly white, the others, also the inner primaries, 

 narrowly skirted and tipped with white. Rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers, 

 uniform fuliginous-dusky, the remaining rectrices paler, or dull cinereous. A conspicuous whitish 

 superciliary stripe, extending back to the nape, and confluent with the dull whitish of the under 

 side of the head, thus posteriorly bounding a large sooty-brown auricular area ; anterior portion of 

 the lores, wdth the forehead, dull smoky grayish ; neck, jugulum, and breast, dirty wdutish (some- 

 times soiled with dingy buff), and clouded or spotted with dull slate, sooty plumbeous, or dusky 

 black, this sometimes forming a large patch on each side of the breast ; remaining lower parts pure 

 white, the sides with chain-like series of brownish slaty spots mixed with streaks, the crissum 

 streaked with dusky ; lining of the wing pure white, the border brownish gray Bill, legs, and 

 fi'et brow-nish black in the dried skin ; iris brown. In fresh specimens, " feet, legs, and base of bill 

 dark greenish yellow ; terminal two thirds of bill hlack, or very dark brown" (Nelson, MS.). 

 Winter planuuje : Above, soft smoky plumbeous, the scapulars and interscap\dars glossy purplish 

 dusky centrally, the plumbeous borders to the feathers causing a squamate appearance ; head and 

 neck uniform plumbeous, except the throat and a supraloral patch, which are streaked whitish ; 

 jugulum squamated with white, the breast similarly but more broadly marked. Wings, etc., as in 

 sunmier. Younfj, first phiriuuje: Scapulars and interscapulars black, broadly bordered with bright 

 rusty and buffy white, the latter chiefly on the longer and outer scapulars and posterior paii of the 

 back ; wing-coverts broadly bordered with buffy white ; pileum stre.aked black and ochraceous ; 

 jugulum and breast pale buff, or buffy white, streaked with dusky. Dovmy young: Above, bright 



