50 Vol. XXIII 
THE PRIBILOF SANDPIPER 
By G. DALLAS HANNA 
WITH ONE PHOTO 
“J ‘HE DATA upon which this study is based have been secured during seven 
years of acquaintance with the species. Valuable information on nesting 
habits has been furnished by Messrs. C. E. Crompton and P. C. Partch, 
formerly of St. George Island. 7 
The Pribilof Sandpiper (Arquatella ptilocnemis) is chiefly of in- 
terest because of the fact that it has an exceedingly limited breeding range and 
probably the shortest migration route of any northern shore bird. It is known 
to breed only upon St. George, St. Paul, St. Matthew and St. Lawrence islands, 
all located in Bering Sea within an area not over 400 miles in greatest dimen- 
sion. The winter range of the species is practically unknown, the only records 
being from Portage Bay, southeast Alaska (Hartlaub, Journ. fiir Ornith., 
1883, p. 280), and Lynn Canal (Ridgway, Birds of N. and Mid. Am., VIII, 1919, 
p. 246), between Alaska and British Columbia. The appearance of the birds at 
the former locality in flocks in spring (if identifications were correct) indicates 
that they wintered farther south, probably on Vancouver and other islands of 
British Columbia. They could hardly have come from beyond these localities 
and have remained undiscovered. The species has been reported in fall migra- 
tion about Unimak Pass, Alaska (McGregor, Condor, VIII, 1906, p. 119), and 
in spring on the Bristol Bay coast (cf. Palmer, The Avifauna of the Pribilof 
Islands, in Fur Seals and Fur-Seal Islands of the North Pacific Ocean, III, 1899, 
p. 403, and Osgood, N. Am. Fauna, no. 24, 1904, p. 62). 
If the specimens taken by McGregor (cbid., p. 119) on Unimak Island on 
August 14 (printed August 4 in Ridgway, Birds of N. and Mid. Am., VIII, 1919, 
p. 247), and on Tigalda Island, August 5, were correctly identified it is possible 
that the species breeds there and was not migrating. No indication of migra- 
tion has been noted so early as that on the Pribilofs, although a few early 
breeders may have left. In 1920 I made persistent and thorough search for 
the species about Unalaska, September 7 to 18, and at Woody Island, Septem- 
ber 21 to 23, but with only negative results. 
There is apparently but one record of the bird breeding on St. Lawrence 
Island. Nelson (Rep. Nat. Hist. Coll. Alaska, 1877-1881, Wash. 1887, p. 105) 
found a single pair on the south shore in June, 1881. Elliott (Monog. Pribylov 
Group, U.S. Dept. Int., 1881, p. 129, footnote) had previously stated distinctly 
that he did not find it there. 
In 1916 I found it on St. Matthew Island (Auk, XXXIV, 1917, p. 409) just 
as abundantly as Elliott (7bid.) had described. It is, if anything, a more com- 
mon bird there than on the Pribilof Islands; and furthermore it breeds on the 
lowlands, in many cases just back of the drift wood lines, while farther south- 
ward it resorts to the uplands. Fresh eggs and downy young were found on 
St. Matthew in early July and this would indicate that the nesting season was 
somewhat later there than on the Pribilofs. 
I strongly suspect that the birds have some other extensive breeding 
ground than St. George, St. Paul and St. Matthew islands, because in Septem- 
ber and October large flocks come to the two former islands; these appear to 
