Notes on the Purple Sandpiper and Hooded Merganser 1 



By James Chapin 



For several years past I have made frequent visits, at all sea- 

 sons, to the beaches on the south side of Staten Island, but with- 

 out seeing a purple sandpiper, Arquatella maritima, until the 

 present autumn. This sandpiper, indeed, is admitted to be un- 

 common even on Long Island, but as it is more or less resident 

 in this latitude in winter, an occasional individual might be ex- 

 pected to visit our shores. On the 3d of November, 1908, as 

 Mr. H. H. Cleaves and the writer were landing on the beach 

 near Great Kills, one was seen on a mud bank, not twenty- 

 five feet from our rowboat. Perhaps it was not accustomed to 

 being approached from the water side, for the boat drifted to 

 within fifteen feet before it decided to take flight. At this dis- 

 tance even the orange base of the bill, and the brownish yellow 

 feet were plainly visible to the naked eye. It disappeared up 

 the beach, but was later noticed flying over to Crooke's Point, 

 where it alighted on the sand, and where it was afterward col- 

 lected. 



The hooded merganser, Lophodytes cuciillatus, is one of our 

 less common ducks. The writer had never seen a Staten Island 

 specimen, either alive, or in any of the private collections of 

 mounted birds he had examined; but on Monday, November 2, 

 1908, a young male of this species was shot in Wolfe's Pond, 

 Princes Bay, Staten Island, by Mr. Joseph Woodward. It was 

 one of a flock of four, swimming in single file, in the upper end 

 of the pond. The leader may have been an adult male, for it 

 was much more brightly colored, according to Mr. Woodward, 

 than its companions. 



1 Presented November 21, 1908. 



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