BIKDS. 



105 



Young in first plumage. — Crown dark brown with a plumbeous shade on sides ; feathers nar- 

 rowly edged with dull rusty ; back, scapulars, and tertials blackish, edged with narrow borders of 

 pale, rusty shading to grayish and dull buffy, the latter shades most marked on the "wingcoverts 

 and scapulars. Throat and upper neck and sides of head like winter adult; feathers of upper 

 breast with blackish centers, producing a streaked appearance, which gradually changes to spotting 

 on lower breast and sides. This is caused by the increased amount of white, unbroken near end 

 of feather except by an ovate subterminal dark spot. 



There is every gradation from the summer to the autumnal plumage of the adults in my 

 series. 



A considerable number of these birds measured in the flesh range from 8 to 9 inches in total 

 length, and 15 to 16 inches in spread. The measurements of a series of ten specimens from Saint 

 Michaels are given in the following table: 



The downy young, from Kyska Island, June 30, 1873, is bright rusty fulvous above, irregu- 

 larly marked with black ; the ornamental, velvety flecks coarser, and not so white as in maritima; 

 head, light fulvous, marked as in maritima; sides of lower parts fulvous. 



The downy young both of this species and of jptilocnemis are strikingly different from the young 

 of maritima. The difference lies in the rich, light buffy or fulvous tints which so richly color the 

 two first, in contrast with the dark, dingy buffy and grays forming the main colors on young mari- 

 tima at the same stage. 



Teinga ptilocnemis Coues. Prybilof Sandpiper. 



Nearly all the information we possess concerning this species is from the obs ervations of Mr. H. 

 W. Elliott, whose specimens furnished the types. He found them abundant as summer residents 

 upon the Fur Seal Islands and later upon Saint Matthew's Island. A single pair was found nesting 

 on the south shore of Saint Lawrence Island by myself, in June, 1881. Krause secured a specimen 

 of this bird at Portage Bay on the 27th of December and two others on January 27, but saw no 

 large flocks until the end of April; he did not find it there in summer. Portage Bay is on the 

 mainland near the mouth of Chilcat Peninsula, and as these birds winter there sparingly and 

 appear in flocks in spring, it is safe to locate the main wintering ground of this species east and 

 south along the coast, perhaps to British Columbia. It arrives upon the Seal Islands early in May 

 and breeds on the dry uplands and mossy hummocks back from the shore. 



The nest is a mere depression in the drj"^ moss or grass, where four darkly-blotched pyriform 

 eggs are laid. By the 10th of August the young are on the wing, and, with the old birds, gather 

 in flocks and frequent the beaches until early in September, when they leave the islands for their 

 unknown winter home. It is said to be a devoted parent, and hovers about the intruder, uttering 

 its low piping note by the hour, if its nest is near. The single set of eggs obtained by Mr. 

 Elliott on Saint George's Island, June 19, 1873, is still unique. The eggs, four in number, closely 

 resemble those of A, maritima, according to Dr. Coues, and measure 1.55 by 1.08, 1.62 by 1.05, 

 1.50 by 1.08, 1.48 by 1.05. "The ground is nearly clay-color, with an appreciable olivaceous shade. 

 The markings are large, bold, and numerous, of rich burnt-umber brown, of varying depth, according 

 to the quantity of pigment." These markings occur over the entire shell except at the point, and 

 become confluent and massed about the larger end. There are also gray and purplish shell 

 markings scattered over the light spaces. The male of the pair seen by me on Saint Lawrence 

 S. Mis. 156 14 



