308 PR^COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMIOOL.E. 



taken i this was near Chicago, Sejit. 4, 1873. Dr. Hoy speaks of it as common uear 

 Kacine from September 15 to October 10 ; birt this statement Mr. Nelson seems 

 disposed to question. 



Mr. Dall mentions that two sf)ecimens of this Sandpiper were obtained on the 

 Ynkon, lielow Xulato, where it was not common. C)ne was obtained at Sitka by 

 Bisclioff. 



It breeds abundantly in the Anderson River region, where a number of its nests 

 and eggs were found by Mr. MacParlane ; and from his memoranda in reference to 

 the nests and eggs of tliis species in upward of twenty instances, we gather that the 

 nest is always on the ground, and hardly distinguishable from that of the Golden 

 Plover, being a mere depression in the soil, scantily lined with a few withered leaves 

 and dried grasses. These nests were all obtained on the Barren Grounds between 

 Horton's Eiver and the coast, between the 2Cth of June and the 9th of July. The 

 eggs in every instance were four in number. Even in July the embryos were not far 

 advanced. When the nest was approached, the female usually made a short low 

 flight to a distance of about twelve yards. 



The eggs of this species are conspicuously pyriform in shape, and measure 1.51 

 inches in length l)v 1.10 in the greatest breadth. So far as I have noticed them, 

 however much they may vary in certain minor respects, they all present a remarkable 

 uniformity in their general characteristics and appearance. Their ground-color is 

 uniformly an ashy drab, over which are jirofusely spread rounded markings, splashes, 

 and confluent blotches of deep sepia. The markings are smaller and more rounded 

 in shape around the smaller end, and larger and more confluent about the other. The 

 sepia tint is quite uniform, and the deeper markings are mingled with washes of 

 dilute purplish slate. These markings vary in their shape, size, and character, being 

 in some large splashes, and in others longitudinal, as if made by strokes of a paint- 

 brush. The eggs described are in my own cabinet, and were taken by MacFarlaue 

 on the Arctic coast east of Anderson Eiver (No. 1893). 



Genus BURYNORHYNCHUS, Nilsson. 



Eurynorhyiichus,^ Nilss, Urn. .Suec. II. 1821, 29 (tyiie, Platalea iiyg^iicea, LiN'N.). 



Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus. 



THE SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER. 



Platalm piigmccn, LiXN. S. N. ed. 10, I. l/SS, 140 ; cd. 12, I. 1706, 231 (" Surinam "). —Gmel. S. 



N. I. 1788, 615 (i|Hotes "Mils. Ail. Fr. 26. Bnncv. Giij. 171. Dwarf SpoonbiN, Lath. Syn. IV. 



i. p. 17, 11. 3 "). 

 Eurynoi-hynchiis piffftiiccus, VEAVLHOii, Jom: As. Soc. Beng. V. 1836, 127. — Hartino, Ibis, 1869, 



427, pi. 12 (critical, with fall synonymy ; Choris Peninsula, Alaska) ; P. Z. S. 1879, 111, 114 



(same loe.). — CouEfS, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, 136, uo. 884. 

 EiirinorhynclMs pygmceus, Gkay, Hand-L III. 1871, 61. — Eidgw. Noni. N. Am. B. 1881, 85, no. 



542 (Point Barrow, Alaska). — Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. V. 1882, 165 (Plover Bay, 



Siberi.n ) . 

 Eurynorhyndius griseus, "NiLS.s." Tejim. Man. ed. 2, II. 1820, 594. 

 Eurynorhynclms oricnlalls, Bltth, Ann. Mag. N. H. XIII. 1844, 178, 179. 



1 This name has been variously spelled Enrmorhynchus, Eurinoryncua, Eurinorinchus, Eurhinorhyii- 

 chus, Enrinoi-incus, etc., but the fonn given above is the true orthography. See " The Ibis," 1869, p. 427 

 (footnote). 



