100 :S^ATUEAL HISTORY COLLEOTIONS IN ALASKA. 



aad seek the edges of large pouds and flats or tbe muddy parts of the coast and borders of tide 

 creeks. During August and September they are found on the bays, and the last are seen about 

 the last of September or first of October. 



Murdoch found it a rare summer visitant at Point Barrow, where it was noticed only once. They 

 breed on all the islands of Bering Sea, the north coast of Siberia, and we saw them common about 

 Herald and Wrangel Islands in July and August, 1881. It is plentiful throughout the interior of 

 iforthern Alaska, as well as on the salt marshes of the coast. Dall saw it all along the Yukon, 

 and found a nest with two eggs at Pastolik, near the Yukon mouth. 



The usual number of eggs is four, which vary considerably in exact coloration. The ground- 

 color in the very large series before me, obtained in the vicinity of Saint Michaels, shades by every 

 degree from greenish-clay color to warm, buffy, olive-brown. The spots and markings are very 

 irregular in size and shape, but are usually larger about the large end of egg. These spots and 

 blotches, which are rarely confluent, occupy about one-half the surface, and are from dark chocolate 

 to very dark umber-brown. These eggs measure, taking extremes, 1.20 by .85; 1.16 by .87 ; 1.12 

 by .80 ; within which mesurements will fall most of the eggs of this species. Like the Eed Phalarope 

 this species extends its winter range far south on the coasts of both continents. It is known among 

 whalers and fishermen by the same name as its relative, and both unite in giving animation to many 

 an otherwise lifeless and forbidding scene along our northern shore. 



Gallinago delicata (Ord). Wilson's Snipe (Esk. Ku-M-Tcunk). 



This is a rather uncommon but widely-spread species in Alaska along the mainland shore of 

 Bering Sea. I found it both at Saint Michaels and on the Lower Yukon in small numbers, 

 making its presence known in spring-time by its peculiar whistling noise as it flew high overhead. 

 It nests wherever found in the north, and is a rather common species along the entire course of 

 the Yukon, extending thence north to within the Arctic Circle, but its limit in this direction is 

 not definitely known. It was found at Sitka and Kadiak by the Western Union Telegraph ex- 

 plorers, but is not known from any of the Bering Sea Islands, nor from the coast of Siberia, but 

 it is to be looked for from the latter region, at least. 



The nesting range of this bird is widely extended, reaching from Northern Illinois, where I 

 have found it in the breeding season, to well within the Arctic Circle. The first of June, 1879, while 

 at the Yukon mouth, several of these birds were heard uttering a loud peculiar note, which may 

 he represented by the syllables ydk-ydk-ydhydk, in quick, energetic, explosive syllables. This note 

 was uttered singly or repeated several times, and appears to be a kind of call-note of the male 

 during the breeding season. At the time when the bird is uttering its note, it flies along within 

 a short distance of the ground with a peculiar jerky movement of the body and wings as every 

 note is uttered. On one occasion, in the same vicinity, a Short-eared Owl and one of these snipe 

 were flushed from a grassy marsh within 3 feet of each other, flying up almost simultaneously as 

 I came upon them. I carefully examined the tail-feathers of twelve specimens of this bird in the 

 National Museum collection and found sixteen feathers in all but one, and this had fourteen. 

 This character is of little value, according to Mr. Eidgway, and varies frequently with the indi- 

 vidual. 



Macro BHAMPHXjs sooLOPACETJS (Say). Long-billed Dowitcher (Esk. STai ft-(/M)tt/i;/i- 

 tiUik). 



This is one of the most common waders on the shore of Norton Sound in summer, and is also 

 present in smaller numbers all along the Yukon, where suitable locations occur. It is a rather 

 scarce summer resident about Point Barrow, according to Murdoch. In spring, the middle of May, 

 as the snow disappears, and the first pale leaves of grass begin to thrust their spear-points through 

 the dead vegetable mat on the ground, or as early as the 10th on some seasons, this peculiar snipe 

 returns to its summer home. At the Yukon mouth I found them on May 12, when they were 

 already engaged in love-making, though the ground was still, to a great extent, covered with snow, 

 and only here and there appeared a thawed place where they could feed. Toward the end of this 

 month they are plentiful, and their curious habits and loud notes make them among the most con- 



