BIRDS. 



117 



In winter plumage the crown, back of neck, dorsal region, with scapulars and wing-coverts, 

 are marked hf narrow dark-browu central shaft-lines which shade rapidly into the adjoining 

 grayish brown, followed by the gray of the border. There is no trace of the irregular serrkted 

 pattern of edging seen in the ordinary breeding bird of either sex. The rump and tail are much as 

 in breeding birds, but, like the wings, are lighter colored in winter. The throat and neck below are 

 dull grayish or brownish ashy; the breast and abdomen are white, faintly marked on the sides by a 

 few obscure bars. Young birds are shaded below with pale fawn-color in winter. The set of 

 measurements appended give the range in dimensions exhibited by Alaskan specimens of this 

 bird: 



From these measurements of specimens taken at random from my collection it will be seen 

 that the females average larger than the males in every way, but especially in length of bill. 



' LiMOSA H^MASTiCA (Liuu ). Hudsonian Godwit. 



A single specimen, a female in a stage midway between the summer and winter plumage, 

 taken at Nulato in June, is in my collection, and Dall obtained two specimens from the Yukon 

 mouth in spring. The above comprise all the records of this bird in the vicinity of Bering Sea. 

 At Fort Yukon it occurs more commonly as a migrant, but thus far it is not known to breed within 

 the Territory, although it undoubtedly does. A single specimen is recorded by Hartlaub as seen 

 at Ohilcat. 



This bird has a remarkably wide range, extending from the Arctic regions on the north, 

 through the entire length of two continents, to the Falkland Islands and Straits of Magellan. In 

 Birds of the Northwest, we learn that a set of its eggs is in the National Museum collection ; they 

 are four in number, and were found by Macfarlane, June 9, on the Anderson Eiver. They measure 

 2.15 to 2.20 in length and 1.40 in breadth. " The ground is a very heavily shaded olivedrab, 

 much darker (almost as in a Loon's or Jaeger's egg) in two of the specimens than in the other. In 

 these darker specimens the markings are almost lost in the general heavy color, merely appearing 

 a little darker ; they are chiefly evident at the greater end. In the other the markings, of the 

 same general character, are, however, much more conspicuous, owing to the lighter ground." 



It has been taken, on May 4, at Kenai, and a young bird, in its first plumage, is in the National 

 Museum collection from that locality. The young in first plumage is very different from the adult. 

 The feathers on the crown have dark-brown centers with narrow, pale, ashy-white borders. The 

 back of neck is a rather sooty-brown with fulvous and dull ashy edgings. On the back the bases of 

 feathers are dull ashy, with a subterminal border of blackish bordered at tip, or outer edge of the 

 feathers, by dull buffy or fulvous. Eump dark ashy. Upper tail-coverts white. Tail as in adult, 

 except duller and with the markings less defined. The under coverts are white with an ashy-brown 

 wash, but no sign of barring. Sides of head pale fulvous, mottled with dull ashy. A baud of dull 

 fulvous ashy extends across the breast, and the rest of tlie under surface is dull fulvous. 



ToTANtJS MELANOLEUCUS (Gmel.). Greater Yellow-legs. 



Bischoff secured several specimens of this bird at Sitka, and these are the only ones known to 

 have been taken within the limits of Alaska. It must nest wherever found in the Territory, and 

 is very likely to occur upon the headwaters of the Yukon and its tributaries. Well identified eggs 

 of this bird still remain a great desideratum, although a set has recently been obtained by the 

 National Museum from one of its correspondents. 



