120 NATUEAL HISTORY OULLEOTIONS IK ALASKA. 



A strong quivering motion of the atmosphere blurred and rendered unrecognizable distant 

 objects on land, as well as on the still ice-bound sea, now a sheet of dazzling white, reflecting 

 the sun's rays from myriads of constantly altering facets. From the distant hill-side came thfe 

 long-drawn plaintive whistle of the Curlews, and nearer at hand the sweet musical cry of the 

 Golden Plover. Circling over the ice-locked bay were Glaucous and Kittiwake Gulls, adding their 

 hoarse cries to the strange sounds of the distant chorus of wild fowl flocking about the borders of 

 ponds and lakes on the not distant flats. The house became unendurable, and, gun in hand, I 

 had scarcely left the building behind when a pair of Buff-breasted Sandpipers, the first I bad 

 seen in this vicinity, were before me, feeding busily on a large dry knoll. After watching their 

 graceful motions for some time, T shot one and the other flew off out of sight, but an hour later it 

 returned and was secured, and on examination it proved to be the female. 



It is an abundant summer resident at Point Barrow, where they arrive the 1st of June and 

 leave early in August. Mr. Murdoch found them nesting there on the drier parts of the tundra, 

 where they lay four eggs in a little moss-lined depression on the ground. In one instance five eggs 

 were found. During the breeding season the males have some curious habits. Murdoch frequently 

 saw solitary birds walking about, at this season, with one wing fully extended and held high in the 

 air. At times two birds would meet and " spar" for a few minutes and then rise together for 30 

 feet or so like towering birds and drift off to the leeward. Sometimes one would stretch himself 

 up to his full height and, spreading his wings forward, puff out his throat and make a sort of 

 clucking noise, to the apparent admiration of his companions. As a rule they were notably quiet 

 even at the mating season. 



The 30th of May, 1879, a party of three was seen by the writer on one of the islands in the 

 Yukon delta, and Dall records two specimens from the Yukon below Nulato and one from Sitka. 

 To the east, in Northern British America, especially in the Anderson River region, it is present 

 and breeds in large numbers. The 1st of August, 1881, 1 found them rather common on the north 

 coast of Siberia west of Koliuchin Bay, and they were evidently on their breeding ground there. 

 The eggs are fully described in Coues's Birds of the Northwest. 



From the meager opportunities I have had to observe this interesting bird, I judge it to be 

 one of the gentlest and least suspicious of its kind, as it is one of the most elegant in form and 

 markings. 



ACTiTis MACULAEiA (Linn.). Spotted Sandpiper. 



A few specimens were taken at Nulato, from the 10th to the 30th of May, by Dall, but the 

 record by the same naturalist that these Sandpipers are "not scarce at Saint Michaels in the fall," 

 is certainly erroneous, since during four successive autumns I paid special attention to securing 

 al) the species of waders occurring there, but did not find a single example of this bird. It was 

 taken by Bischoflf at Sitka, and this ends our very insufficient knowledge of its distribution in the 

 Territory. 



^S^UMENius HUDSONICT7S (Lath.). Hudsoniau Curlew (Esk. Mvg-find-dM-tai uli). 



From May 18 to 25 those birds begin to make their appearance on the coast of Norton Sound, 

 where, however, only a very few pairs remain to nest, the others passing on still farther north to 

 the extended open country bordering the shores of the Arctic. At the Yukon delta, on May 31, 

 1879, a pair was found mated ami evidently about to nest, from the manner in which they greeted 

 my invasion of their haunt. 



The last days of May, and sometimes the first of June, they are rather common in flocks and 

 small parties on the dry hill-sides about Saint Michaels, but they are never abundant and are 

 always rather shy. Their long, mellow whistle is a familiar sound at this time, and is a plfeasant 

 note amid the many harsh though joyous cries from the lusty throats of the various water-fowl. 



They are soon gone, except a stray pair here and there; but early in August, as the blue- 

 berries and "crow-berries" begin to ripen, flocks of this and the following species come down, young 

 and old, from their summer homes, and remain during most of August, until they are fat and heavy 

 through much feeding. Early in September they are on their way still further south, and are seen 



