322 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



Lake near Loon Island, July 10, when several small flocks were seen 

 and a female was taken. The species was noted also at Fort Rae, 

 July 23. On our return trip up the Athabaska Kiver, we found a 

 small flock at Crooked Rapid August 15, when a specimen was col- 

 lected, and another above Grand Rapid, August 22. 



In 1903 we noted a small flock near the mouth of the Athabaska, 

 June 1. The species was next seen July 13, Avhen a few, probably 

 marking the commencement of the southward migration, appeared 

 at Fort Resolution. On their return trip Alfred E. Preble and Mer- 

 ritt Gary saw a small flock at the delta of the Athabaska, August 4, 

 and a flock of five at Fort McMurray, August 11. 



In the spring of 1904, I first saw the Baird sandpiper at Fort 

 Simpson, May 20, and took a single bird on the margin of a small 

 grass-bordered pond. It was common by May 22 and was noted 

 nearly every day up to June 1. The birds were most commonly ob- 

 served in fair-sized flocks about the fields, occasionally accompanying 

 a flock of golden plovers. During my return trip, while anchored 

 near Hardisty Island, July 31, I observed a large flock flying past 

 the steamer. 



This bird was first characterized by Goues, who based his descrip- 

 tion of the species mainly on specimens from Great Slave Lake.« He 

 later recorded the species from Fort Resolution and eggs from An- 

 derson River and the Arctic coast.^ MacFarlane speaks of finding 

 a nest containing 4 eggs on the Barren Grounds June 24, 1864, and 

 of subsequently finding other nests, though the bird was uncommon 

 throughout the region.^ A specimen from Fort Resolution, taken 

 May 19, 1860, by Kennicott; one from Fort Simpson, May 26, 1860, 

 by Ross ; and one from Fort Rae, by Clarke, are still in the National 

 Museum collection. An egg taken by Collinson at Cambridge Bay, 

 Victoria Land, is listed by Oates.^ Reed records eggs taken with 

 the parent bird by an Indian at Peel River, June 18, 1898.^ Seton 

 has recently recorded the species from Casba River and Aylmer Lake, 

 where he observed it August 8 and 13, 1907.^ I have examined speci- 

 mens taken by Frank Russell at Fort Chipewyan in the spring of 

 1893 and at Herschel Island July 13 to August 14, 1894. 



Pisobia minutilla (Vieill.). Least Sandpiper. 



This diminutive sandpiper is a regular spring and fall migrant 

 through the region and breeds on the Barren Grounds. In 1903 sev- 



«Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. PMla. [XIII], p. 196, 1861. 



& Birds of the Northwest, p. 485, 1874. 



« Proc. U. S. Nat. Miis., XIV, pp. 426, 427, 1891. 



'^Cat. Birds' Eggs Brit. Mus., II, p. 55, 1902. 



^'N. A. Birds' Eggs, p. 115, 1904. 



^Auk, XXV, p. 70, 1908. 



