Brewster. 384 [October 3, 



on July 10. He found them about four miles inland on a ridge 

 densely timbered with spruce and larch. The old bird was sit- 

 ting on a log and when approached rose with a heavy whirr, 

 clucking like a Ruffed Grouse. The chick started about ten yards 

 away and flew well until stopped by the charge. No other young 

 could be found, although Mr. Gardiner beat the ground over very 

 carefully. 



We were assured by the inhabitants of Anticosti that the 

 Ptarmigan is the only Grouse which occurs on the island. It is 

 said to be plentiful throughout the wooded portions and is, of 

 course, resident. At Mingan it was formerly abundant, but of 

 late years has been unaccountably scarce. It breeds in the inte- 

 rior, visiting the coast only in winter when hundreds have been 

 killed about the trading post in the course of a few days. 



53. 2Egialites semipalmatus, Bonap. — Ring-necked Plover. 

 We saw the Ring-neck at Amherst Harbor, among the Magda- 



lens, and on Mingan Island on the North Shore. It was evi- 

 dently breeding at both places, but neither eggs nor young could 

 be found. 



54. Phalaropus hyperboreus, Linn. — Northern Phalarope. 

 Some Phalaropes seen near Bonaventure Island, July 12, and 



others met with on the 17th about midway between Anticosti 

 and the North Shore, were undoubtedly of this species, although 

 we were unable at the time to positively identify them. On 

 July 25, however, while the "Arethusa" lay becalmed about 

 thirty miles to the northward of Cape Rosier and perhaps half 

 that distance from land, I had an opportunity of obtaining speci- 

 mens, as well as of becoming better acquainted with their interest- 

 ing habits. 



I had gone in pursuit of some Petrels when my attention was 

 suddenly attracted by a flock of Phalaropes in the act of alight- 

 ing on the water a few hundred yards away. Upon sculling 

 towards them I was surprised to find that they were by no means 

 as unsophisticated as I had previously supposed. Long before I 

 was "within range they took wing ; not all together, but in a 

 straggling manner, one individual following another until all had 

 left the water, when they closed into a compact bunch and rising 

 high in the air whirled about a few times overhead, finally alight- 

 ing several gunshots away. These tactics were repeated until I 



