DOWITCHER. 27 



once (Sharpe); Prince Edward Island, once; Ungava, a few in 

 August, 1860, at Henley Harbor (Coues), one June 10, 1863, at Fort 

 Chimo (Turner). North of Ungava, the only record is that of a 

 single accidental occurrence at Fiskenaes, Greenland (Reinhardt). 

 Evidently the dowitcher does not breed in any numbers on the 

 eastern coast of Ungava. The probability that it does not breed 

 there at all is strengthened by the fact that several first class observers, 

 who during the fall migration were in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, did 

 not see any of the birds. It undoubtedly does not go into north- 

 eastern Keewatin and the islands of the Province of Franklin, for it 

 is not reported by the various expeditions that have traveled and 

 wintered in those districts, while the specimens taken on the west 

 coast of Hudson Bay belong to the form called scolopaceus. The 

 only district left for the breeding ground is the interior of Ungava 

 and the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. 



Winter range. — The dowitcher ranges south in winter through the 

 West Indies to the northern coast of South America and to the 

 Amazon River (Sharpe). It remains at least as far north as northern 

 Florida (Worthington) and probably a few as far west on the Gulf 

 coast as Louisiana. 



Spring migration. — The first one seen in 1890 at Darien, Ga., was 

 on March 20 (Worthington); the average date of arrival on the 

 southern coast of South Carolina is March 23, earliest March 17, 

 1885 (Hoxie); central North Carolina, average April 30; Pea and 

 Bodie Islands, North Carolina, April 27, 1905 (Bishop); Long Beach, 

 New Jersey, May 13, 1877 (Scott). 



The species is rare west of the Allegheny Mountains, but a few 

 specimens have been reported: Near Chicago, 111., May 6, 1893 

 (Woodruff); Toronto, Ontario, not common May 16-31. This last 

 locality seems to be about as far west as the dowitcher occurs regu- 

 larly, though formerly it probably ranged west to Lake Michigan. 



The species is not uncommon on the coast of Florida throughout 

 the summer, but the individuals remaining so far south do not 

 assume the breeding plumage (Scott). Migrants are common in 

 Florida until the last week in May, and on the coast farther north 

 the last leave for the breeding grounds about the first of June (Scott). 



Fall migration. — The first migrants appear on the New England 

 coast early in July: Edgartown, Mass., July 4, 1891 (Worth); near 

 Newport, R. L, July 7, 1871 (Sturtevant) ; Long Beach, New Jersey, 

 July 6, 1877 (Scott); Bone Island, Virginia, July 14, 1880 (Ridgway); 

 Erie, Pa., July 19, 1892 (Todd); Pea and Bodie islands, North Caro- 

 lina, July 7, 1904 (Bishop); Barbados, West Indies, August 24, 1888 

 (Feilden). A market hunter near Newport, R. I., shot 1,058 dowitch- 

 ers during 1867-1874 — extreme dates July 7, 1871, and October 20, 

 1870, and average date of arrival July 17 (Sturtevant). Some dates 



