192 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



Pluvialis dominica (Miiller) 



It was thought that several golden plover were seen in flight over 

 the village but not confirmed in 1957. Father Mouchet described sev- 

 eral single golden plover and pairs which he had seen about the Mis- 

 sion in spring, 1956. Golden plover have been reported in Yukon 

 north to the arctic coast (Eand, 1946) . Apparently Old Crow does 

 not lie on a route significant for the migration which brings so many 

 golden plover to nest in northern Alaska. These could only belong 

 to the race which winters in Argentina and migrates northward 

 through the Mississippi Valley. They nest on the arctic coast of 

 Yukon and some migrate across southern Yukon (Eand, 1946) but 

 the available reports do not show where the bulk of the great popula- 

 tion of golden plover nesting in Alaska traverses Yukon in its westerly 

 course from the northbound migration in the upper Mackenzie Valley. 

 Except near the arctic Yukon coast the golden plover nesting in 

 Alaska seem to be separated from those which nest over such a wide 

 area between Mackenzie and Hudson Bay. 



Family SCOLOPACIDAE: Woodcock, Snipe, Sandpipers 



Only 9 species of sandpipers were seen at Old Crow, a small list 

 compared with the 16 known at Kobuk and 18 at Anaktuvuk. The 

 terrain along Porcupine Kiver suits snipe, spotted and solitary sand- 

 pipers, and lesser yellowlegs, but among these we could only establish 

 that snipe and solitary sandpipers appeared in sufficient numbers to 

 demonstrate numerically significant migration through Old Crow. 

 As seen at Old Crow the Porcupine Valley is an unimportant migra- 

 tory path for sandpipers as well as for plovers. 



Six of the species of sandpipers at Old Crow are restricted in their 

 Arctic nesting to Mackenzie, Yukon, and Alaska. 



The fact that six of the nine species of sandpipers found at Old 

 Crow are not divided into races suggests that these northwestern 

 breeding birds are not genetically differentiated and that, as among 

 ducks, the populations which are localized for breeding exchange 

 members with the rest of the population of the species during migra- 

 tion or on their wintering grounds. 



Among the three races of sandpipers there is no local differentia- 

 tion among North American snipe (Capella). The whimbrel (Nu- 

 menius) and solitary sandpiper {Tringa) are western races that mi- 

 grate farther south in winter than the eastern races and they migrate 

 farther north in summer. In both form and geographical distribu- 

 tion the western and eastern populations are distinct. 



In southern Yukon snipe are uncommon (Rand, 1946) and whimbrel 

 rare. Probably arctic Yukon is a geographically significant connec- 

 tion for the Alaskan and Mackenzie populations of these species. 



