12 NORTH AMERICAN SHOREBIRDS. 



that reach the Lesser Antilles by a long flight over the Atlantic Ocean 

 are reported as emaciated. 



Shorebirds present some idiosyncrasies of migration that are worthy 

 of mention. The sharp-tailed sandpiper (Pisobia aurita) breeds 

 on the northern coast of Siberia, and in fall migration crosses to 

 Alaska and then back again to Asia and by way of Japan and China 

 reaches its winter home in Australia. The most eastern point of its 

 range in Alaska — Norton Sound — is some 500 miles east of its summer 

 home in Siberia. As the species is not known in Alaska in spring, 

 its migration route is probably elliptical, and the northern route 

 in spring is probably across the mainland of Asia. 



Some individuals of the marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa) have a 

 unique migration route. From their breeding grounds in North 

 Dakota and Saskatchewan some of these birds formerly migrated 

 almost directly east more than a thousand miles to the Atlantic 

 coast, while others traveled a thousand miles due west. to the coast 

 of southern Alaska. 



Some birds breed in the Western Hemisphere and winter in the 

 Eastern. For example, the Pacific godwit (Limosa lapponica baueri) 

 breeds on the western shores of Alaska, whence it passes by way of the 

 Commander Islands, Japan, and China to its winter home in Australia. 

 The bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis) follows a somewhat 

 similar route. The wandering tattler (Heteractitis incanus) breeds 

 in Alaska and some individuals pass in fall migration to Asia, Hawaii, 

 and Oceania, while others continue down the American coast to the 

 Galapagos. 



A long migration route from the eastern side of North America is 

 followed by the ringed plover (JEgialitis Maticula). Some individuals 

 breed in Greenland and still farther west in Ellesmere Land and 

 about Cumberland Sound, whence they pass east and southeast to 

 the European coast and winter from the Mediterranean to southern 

 Africa. 



Both these last routes are used by the turnstone (Arenaria inter- 

 pres). The individuals that breed in Greenland and Ellesmere Land 

 migrate southeast to Europe and Africa, while those that breed in 

 Alaska, even as far east as Point Barrow, migrate to the west and 

 southwest to winter in Asia and Oceania. 



Another migration route, probably unique, is that taken by the 

 considerable numbers of the mountain plover (Podasocys montanus) 

 that winter in the Sacramento Valley and elsewhere in California. 

 The farthest west and north that the species is known to breed is 

 Montana; hence whether the California wintering birds come from 

 Montana or from the more southern districts, they apparently form 

 an exception to the general rule that North American birds do not 

 winter farther west than they breed. 



Though many of the shorebirds breeding in North America winter 

 in the southern part of South America, none of them breed in their 



