196 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Murdoch found it common at Point Barrow, while Nelson saw 

 only a few specimens at the Yukon mouth. On the other hand, 

 Mr. Fannin reports it as tolerably common throughout British. 

 Columbia and also a resident. Mr. Brooks says it is a rare migrant 

 in the lower Fraser valley in the autumn. 



Breeding Notes. — ^This species is common on the Arctic coast 

 and on the Barren Grounds east of Horton river. Between 

 the 26th June and the 9th July, upwards of twenty sets of 

 eggs were secured, and there were four in every nest, which was 

 a mere depression in the soil, scantily lined with a few withered 

 leaves and dried grasses. When the nest was approached, the 

 female usually made a low flight to a short distance. (Macfarlane.) 

 This is an abundant summer resident at Point Barrow, and was 

 more plentiful in the season of 1883 than it was the year before. 

 They arrived in both seasons in a body about the same time (June 

 6th to 8th), and were first seen on the dry banks below the village 

 feeding greedily on the flies and beetles, which were out sunning 

 themselves. By the middle of June they had spread pretty well 

 over the dryer parts of the tundra, but always confined themselves 

 to high and dry banks, or what we called the black tundra. 

 The eggs, as might be inferred from their colours, are laid in 

 the latter locality, as a rule, where they harmonize very well with 

 the black and white ground and moss. Like the rest of the 

 waders, this bird builds no nest, but deposits the four eggs, 

 small end down, in a shallow depression in the ground lined with 

 moss. Four is the usual number of eggs in a complete set, though 

 we collected one set with five. {Murdoch.) I have a set of four 

 eggs taken on Herschell island, June i8th, 1902, by Rev. C. E. Whit- 

 taker. The nest was simply a hollow in the moss. The bird was 

 secured to prove identity. (Raine.) 



CXII. ACTITIS iLLiGER. 1811. 



263. Spotted Sandpiper. 



Actitis macularia (Linn.) Naumann. 1836. 



This is a common species in Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, 

 Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. In 

 all these provinces it breeds, either by the sea, shores of lakes or 

 banks of rivers, but never in colonies. Seldom more than one pair 



