1897.] OR EAEE birds' EGGS. 891 



ceived notions) an almost unexpected reward. The story of the 

 nest and eggs of the Pigmy Curlew or Curlew-Sandpiper having 

 been found in Greenland, unlikely as it was from the first, may be 

 dismissed from consideration after the explanation by Colonel 

 Feilden (Ibis, 1879, p. 486) of the way in which the mistake arose, 

 and thus we have no positive information as to its breeding-haunts, 

 except that which was furnislied by the observations of A'^on 

 Middendorff to be immediately cited, and it gradually became 

 evident that in this species, as with some others of its congeners, the 

 focus of existence was limited to a comparatively small area, though 

 the early age at which the young wander in many directions to 

 great distances from their home rendered its determination difficult, 

 and served to induce a belief, for which there was really no founda- 

 tion, that the species might breed over a very considerable extent 

 of circumpolar land — a belief that was hardly dispelled until the 

 publication of Professor Palmen's work on the ornithology of the 

 Voyage of the ' Vega ' '. 



Von Middendorff (Sib. Reise, Bd. ii. Th. 2, i. p. 220) says of 

 Trinf/a suharquaia that he met with one on the Taimj^r iiiver 

 (lat. 74° N.) on the 4th of June, and that soon after it was dispersed 

 over the swampy tracts of the Tundra to breed, and that a bird 

 shot on the 15th contained an egg nearly ready for exclusion (fast 

 tmsgetragenes Ei). He adds that the nearer he approached the 

 mountains, the rarer became the species, and also that though he 

 met with one on the Boganida on the 27th of May, it did not seem 

 to breed there. 



Thus, as I informed Mr. Popham before his departure last spring, 

 the probability seemed to be against his falling in with a breeding- 

 place of this Sandpiper unless he was able to get to the East and 

 North of the Boganida country, a difficult task to accomplish, 

 while he did not propose in his recent journey to go beyond the 

 valley of the Jeuisei. His pleasure therefore may be imagined 

 when, on the 3rd of July, he watched a Tringa suharquata go 

 three times to her nest on an island in the mouth of that river, 

 and from that nest he took the four slightly incubated eggs which 

 he has kindly entrusted me, in his absence, to exhibit to-night. 

 The note with which he has favoured me states that the nest was 

 " a rather deep hollow in the reindeer-moss on a low ridge of 

 ground somewhat drier than the surrounding swampy tundra, in 

 much the same sort of place that a Grey Plover would choose." 

 To ensure the identification of the eggs Mr. Popham shot the hen 

 bird from the nest. These eggs measure from 1*47 to 1*4 by from 

 1-02 to 1 inch, and can be, I think, best described by saying that 

 except in size they closely resemble those of the Common Snipe, 

 Gallinago ccelestis ; but it would be quite in accordance with 

 xperience to find that others should exhibit a considerable 

 departure from that pattern. 



^ Bidi-ag till Kamiedomen oiii Sibiriska Isbafskustens Fogelfaiina m.m., 

 bearbetade af J. A. Paliuen (Vega-Expeditionens Veteiiskapliga Jakttagelser, v. 

 p. 309, tab. 3). Stockholm : 1887. 



59* 



