398 



EEEUNETES. 



the West Indies, on the southern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Brazilian coast 

 as far south as Bahia, It has repeatedly wandered as far east as the British Islands and 

 the continent of Europe. 



EREUNETES GRISEUS SCOLOPACEUS. 



ALASKAN SNIPE-BILLED SANDPIPER. 



Diagnosis. Eruunetes gbiseus magnitudine majore. 



Variations. The Eastern and Western forms of this species appear completely to intergrade. 



Synonymy. Limosa scolopacea. Say, Long's Exped. ii. p. 170 (1833). 



Scolopax longirostris, Bell, Ann. Lye. New York, v. p. 4 (1852). 



Macrorhamphus scolopaceus {Say), Lawrence, Ann. Lye. New York, v. p. 4 (1852). 



Macrorhampus griseus, var. scolopaceus, Coues, Cheek-list, no. 415 a (1873). 



Literature. 



Plates. — Lawrence, Ann. Lye. New York, v. pi. 1 ; Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds 



N. Amer. i. p. 197 (coloured woodcut of head) . 

 Habits. — Baird, Brewer, & Ridgway, Water-Birds N. Amer. i. p. 196. 

 Eggs. — Described on page 200 of the above-mentioned work . 



Subspecifio 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Alaskan Snipe-billed Sandpiper, sometimes called the Red-bellied Snipe or 

 Greater Longbeak, is the Western form of E. griseus. Attempts have been made to point 

 out a difference of colour between it and its Eastern representative. It is perhaps on an 

 average rather less spotted on the underparts in summer plumage, and on the lower back 

 at all seasons ; but these characters are very unreliable, and under no circumstances can it 

 be regarded as more than subspecifically distinct from its Eastern ally. 



The differences in the measurements of the two forms have been already pointed out. 



The Alaskan Snipe-billed Sandpiper is common during the breeding-season in Alaska 

 (Dall & Bannister, Trans. Chicago Ac. Sc. i. p. 291), and is extremely abundant on the 

 American coast of Behring Sea and on the opposite coast of Siberia (Nelson, Cruise of the 



