THE OOLOGIST 



19 



ber, when the few remaining ones 

 leave for the south. 



A few Semi-palmated Plover and 

 Lesser Yellow-legs appeared on July 

 26th. At this time these birds had 

 already covered many hundred miles 

 of their journey south, as they breed 

 in the far north, from the James Bay 

 region almost to the Arctic coast. The 

 Semi-palmated Plover is one of the 

 commonest species in the fall and its 

 migrations cover a longer period than 

 any of the other shore birds. They 

 are usually found along the lake from 

 the latter part of July until the first 

 of October. 



On the twenty-eighth day of July 

 there was a large flight of shore birds. 

 Lesser Yellow-legs, Semi-palmated 

 Plover, Least and Semi-palmated 

 Sandpipers appeared very commonly, 

 together with a large flock of Pec- 

 toral Sandpipers, or "Grass Snipe." 

 All remained more or less common up 

 to September first, when the Lesser 

 Yellow-legs began to leave and the 

 Greater Yellow-legs to take their 

 place. By the twenty-ninth of July 

 the Bartramian Sandpipers, or "Up- 

 land Plover", as they are known to 

 most sportsmen, had begun their long 

 journey to the plains of Argentina, 

 where they spend the winter. They 

 appeared regularly up to the four- 

 teenth of August, when the main 

 flight had passed. This bird breeds 

 in a few favorable localities in Mon- 

 roe county. 



Quite a number of Wilson Snipe 

 have been seen about the marshes 

 throughout the summer, and no doubt 

 some have nested here. A solitary 

 Turnstone was seen on July twenty- 

 ninth. The first Golden Plover was 

 seen August sixth, and the first Black- 

 bellied Plover on the eighth. 



On the fifth of August a few west- 

 ern Sandpipers made their appear- 

 ance, and since then they have been 



seen occasionally up to the first of 

 September. In general appearance 

 they are very much like the Semi- 

 palmated Sandpiper, the little Sand- 

 piper so common along the lake shore 

 during August, but they are of a dark- 

 er and more rusty color and have a 

 longer and stouter bill. This western 

 variety breeds in the northwest coast 

 region of Alaska. During their fall 

 migration some of them take an over- 

 land trip to the Atlantic coast, a few 

 stopping en route along the shore of 

 Lake Ontario. These diminutive 

 Sandpipers, hardly larger than Spar- 

 rows, at this early date were already 

 more than three thousand miles in an 

 air line from their breeding grounds. 

 The power of flight and the long dis- 

 tances covered by some of the shore 

 birds during their migrations are truly 

 marvelous. 



A few Baird and White-rumped 

 Sandpipers have been seen, but they 

 are never very common. But very 

 few Sanderling have yet appeared, 

 the main flight occurring during the 

 latter part of September and the fore- 

 part of October. 



Three species of shore birds were 

 observed that are of rare or unusual 

 occurrence in western New York — 

 the Hudsonian Curlew, Willet, and 

 and Knot. A single Hudsonian Cur- 

 lew was seen on July twenty-eighth, 

 and four Willet on August ninth. A 

 single Willet was seen on August 

 twenty-fourth, and it remained near 

 the same locality for a number of 

 days. Possibly it was a straggler 

 from those previously seen. Willet 

 are fairly common on the Atlantic 

 coast, more so in the south, but their 

 occurrence on Lake Ontario is very 

 rare. A single specimen of the Knot 

 (Tringa canutus) appeared on August 

 twenty-seventh and remained for sev- 

 eral days. This species was formerly 

 fairly common along the Atlantic 



