152 THE CONDOR Vol. XXIII 
more plentiful up to May 7. This was the height of the rush; there had been 
heavy rains turning to snow and the ground was white in the morning and 
the mud flats covered with shorebirds. The new arrivals were Knot, Baird 
Sandpiper and Marbled Godwit, the latter identified by J. A. Munro, who also 
doubtfully recorded a small flock of Lesser Yellowlegs. No specimens were 
taken of either of these last two species then. 
The tidal flats of the lagoon at Masset, called Deleatla Inlet, were covered 
with shorebirds all in full spring plumage. The shore line of Dixon Entrance 
to the north also showed a good many flocks and where a few rocks cropped 
out there were Aleutian Sandpipers, Black Turnstones, and Oystereatchers, 
none of which occurred on the tidal flats. 
Wandering Tattler and Spotted Sandpiper both arrived on the 10th. The 
main rush had distinctly fallen off, but there were still large numbers of wad- 
ers. Pectoral Sandpiper came on the 12th, never becoming common. Hud- 
sonian Curlew showed up on the 16th; and the next day | took a Western Soli- 
tary Sandpiper, a bird I hardly expected to meet so far out from the mainland. 
It was accompanied by another which rose and performed a flight-sone in the 
air—a wild career, of a series of steep inverted V’s. I thought I might have 
spoilt a chance of finding the nest, as the locality was eminently suitable; but 
on dissecting my bird later I found that it, also, was a male, which would not 
have bred for over two weeks. The species was never seen again here. A par- 
allel case was that of Wilson Snipe which was ‘‘bleating’’ in the regular nup- 
tial flight about this time, but left a few days later for more northern breed- 
ing grounds. : 
The last spring migrant to arrive was the Turnstone—not the Ruddy sub- 
species, but the dark-backed Old World form, a single specimen of which was 
taken on May 20. This practically brought the spring migration to a close. A 
few birds lingered on, Sanderlings, Western Sandpipers, Hudsonian Curlews, 
and Wandering Tattlers, both the latter being seen as late as June 4 when 
Semipalmated Plovers were sitting on hard-set eggs. These Plovers together 
with Black Oystereatcher and Spotted Sandpiper were the only shorebirds 
that remained to breed, although a few pairs of Greater Yellowlegs undoubted- 
ly breed along the east coast of Graham Island. 
The notable features of the spring migration of the shorebirds at Masset 
were its unanimity and early date, especially when compared with a similar 
latitude on the Atlantic coast or in the interior. .The entire migration of birds 
that were obviously strong adults was over by May 20. After that date only 
immature and crippled birds were to be seen and not a single one of even these 
after June 4. 
The fall migration at Masset opened with a flock of Western Sandpipers, 
all adults, wheeling over the flats on the afternoon of July 1. The next day 
a flock of about eighty-five were busy feeding, having arrived about the mid- 
dle of the afternoon, and were carefully conned with a binocular at close 
range. At least sixty-five per cent (and probably more) were females, and not 
a single young bird in the flock. Very soon they rose and continued their 
flight southwards. 
July 3 found me in a little ‘‘gas-boat’’ anchored four miles out in Dixon 
Entrance, watching for Shearwaters while the owner fished for halibut. A 
strong wind due west kicked up a good sea and presently I noticed that there 
was a big migration of Sandpipers on. Flock after flock passed low over the 
