Brewster.] 386 [October 3, 



them had laid earlier in the season, but none showed any signs of 

 having incubated. These facts suggest that the domestic rela- 

 tions of this species may be similar to those of Wilson's Phalar- 

 ope, the male of which is known to assume — either by choice 

 or necessity — the entire duties of incubation and subsequent 

 charge of the young, while his mate, joining other equally recre- 

 ant ones, throws aside all care and wanders abroad in search of 

 selfish pleasures and diversions. In the present instance the nests 

 of these birds may have been many hundred miles to the north- 

 ward. If this inference be correct the occurence of the Northern 

 Phalarope during early summer off the coast of New England is 

 sufficiently explained. 



55. Philohela minor, Gm. — American Woodcock. 



The only specimen satisfactorily identified was one seen near 

 Gaspe. Mr. Gardiner thought that he flushed another in a 

 springy place at Fox Bay, Anticosti, but the foliage was so 

 dense that he did not get a clear sight at it. 



56. Tringa minutilla, Vieill. — Least Sandpiper. 



A few were observed daily along the beaches at Fox Bay, An- 

 icosti. Verrill found them breeding numerously in the interior 

 of the island. 



57. Totanus melanoleucus, Gm. — Greater Yellow-leg. 

 We found this species abundant on Anticosti and by no means 



uncommon about the mouth of Mingan River, where the fish- 

 warden assured me that they nest regularly. Of the breeding of 

 the species on Anticosti I have the strongest circumstantial evi- 

 dence, as the following extracts from my note-book will show : 



"Fox Bay, July 8. Explored a salt-water lagoon connected with the 

 hay by a short, winding river. It proved a beautiful sheet of water, crescen- 

 tic in shape, and perhaps three-quarters of a mile long. It was entirely 

 surrounded by woods, the trees in many places overhanging the water. 

 There were several small, grassy islands and some larger wooded ones. On 

 the former we found at least a dozen pairs of Greater Yellow-legs which were 

 apparently breeding, for they circled over our heads keeping up a deafening 

 clamor. Neither eggs nor young could be found however." 



"Fox Bay, July 10. Gardiner returned late this evening from an all 

 day's trip into the interior, which he describes as a vast, treeless expanse of 

 rolling ground covered with tall grass. In the hollows between the ridges 

 are long, shallow ponds of clear water around which Greater Yellow-legs 



