Jan., 1920 THE LIMICOLAE OF SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA 27 
Eastern Solitary and Buff-breasted sandpipers are all bound to occur, and only 
need looking for; while the Aleutian and Sharp-tailed sandpipers, and Asiatic 
Golden Plover, which have been taken frequently along the coast to the north- 
ward, might also be expected. 
As to the many stragglers which might drift over from Asia, one has only 
to compare the lists of those now known to occur on the Atlantic and Pacific sea- 
boards to see the possibilities. On the Atlantic a large percentage of the Old 
World species has occurred; even such a bird as the Ruff, which does not go 
far to the north, has occurred more than once. On the Pacific, despite the fact 
that a large number of species of Asiatic shorebirds are not only of regular oc- 
currence in Alaska, but in many cases have bred there, comparatively few extra- 
limitals have been recorded farther south. Many of these Asiatic-Alaskan 
species must straggle down the American coast every year, while others that 
breed in Siberia may easily make a similar mistake. Of the latter, such species 
as the Thick-billed, Broad-billed, Temminck, and Terek sandpipers, Least Cur- 
lew, and many others may at any time be expected to turn up on the American 
coast, as well as many of the species that have already made the trip across the 
North Atlantic. 
An important factor which has helped to establish the long list of extra- 
limitals on the Atlantic coast is the shorebird shooter with his decoys. On the 
Pacific, except in a few localities, shorebirds with the exception of Wilson Snipe, 
are not considered game birds; and while I hope this condition will always con- 
tinue to exist, chances to make new records are greatly diminished in conse- 
quence. | 
Too few ornithologists have really grasped the situation that obtains among 
the far northern-breeding shorebirds, caused by their amazing migratory in- 
stinct. While most birds are still busy with their nesting duties or comfortably 
molting into their fall dress, Limicolae from thousands of miles to the north- 
ward are driving through on their way to the Southern Hemisphere. July is 
the best month for them in southern British Columbia; by the middle of August 
the majority have passed. Dr. L. B. Bishop, writing to me of the conditions 
in the Dakota region, considered that by the end of June the majority of the 
adults of a number of species breeding far to the north had passed south. It is 
very hard to reconcile such facts with the conditions the birds have to contend 
with in the Arctic. 
I think this early southward movement accounts for the fact that so many 
species are overlooked. The collector at that time, if collecting along the shore 
at all, is busy with the juvenal plumages of the marsh-breeding birds, and the 
silence is frequently broken by the little crack of his ‘‘aux’’. Now this will not 
suit the highly nervous Sandpipers just in from a three hundred mile flight. 
and at the first crack they are off—to add another few hundred miles to their 
southward journey. Shorebirds must be especially looked for, and looked for 
continuously. The accepted theory is that they travel at night, but my experi- 
ence, which I hesitate to record, is that the bulk of the migration of these birds 
is by day, from soon after daylight to some time in mid-afternoon, just the period 
that most collectors are out. The birds are then high overhead, and what should 
be looked for is the sudden change of wind (they travel with a beam wind) or a 
big storm which drives them down to localities they are not usually found in. 
Such chances as these may occur only once in a season—or in years. 
