SC0L0PACIDJ3 — THE SNIPE FAMILY — ARQUATELLA. 
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the succeeding year he had not observed any up to the 1st of October, when he left 
the country. Mr. Dali procured a single bird of this species a mile or two below 
Nulato, on the Yukon, and another at Pastolik, but did not find the nest or eggs. 
He also procured a specimen on St. George’s Island, in Behring’s Sea, where it was 
common on the dry uplands and on the hills. Bischoff found this species plentiful 
at Sitka, and also at Plover Bay, on the Asiatic side of Behring’s Straits. Mr. Dali 
found it a resident of the Aleutian Islands, where it was abundant along the shore 
throughout the year, in all the islands from Unalashka to the Shumagins. Its nest 
and eggs he was not able to discover. 
This bird visits the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Nova 
Zembla. Yon Baer, in his description of the animal life of the last-named place, 
mentions the Purple Sandpiper as one of the eight species of birds found there. Mr. 
G. Gillett (“Ibis,” 1870) also mentions finding this species on Nova Zembla, where it 
was very common both in Matthew’s Strait and on the eastern coast. One came on 
board during a storm, and was caught in the hand. When released, it did not offer 
to fly away, but remained on board two days. Herr von Heuglin also mentions (“ Ibis,” 
1872) that he found this species very common, and generally in pairs, in this same 
region. In the autumn it occurred in smaller or larger flocks, and often mingled with 
the Pelidna cinclus and the Tringa viinuta. On the 8th of August he found nest- 
lings still very small, and covered with down. The Messrs. Evans and Sturge found 
the Purple Sandpiper very abundant at Coal Bay in Spitzbergen, and secured four 
of its nests. These were on the surface of the high field, and they are said to 
have been beautiful little structures, built deep in the ground, and lined with stalks 
of grass and leaves of the dwarf birch (Betula nano). They each contained four 
eggs of an olive-green, handsomely mottled with a purplish-brown, chiefly at the 
larger end. The writers state that they watched with much interest this elegant 
little bird as it waded into small pools of snow-water, or ran along the shingle, every 
now and then raising its wings over its back and exhibiting the delicate tint of the 
under side, at the same time uttering its loud shrill whistle. Professor Alfred New- 
ton also met with this species on Spitzbergen, where he found it abundant along the 
coast as far north as Brandywine Bay. Dr. Malmgren informed Professor Newton 
that on a former voyage he had observed a flock of this bird on the shores of Kobbe 
Bay as early as May 28. He afterward saw it in the interior of Stor Fiord, and on 
Bear Island. According to Professor Newton, it is common everywhere in Iceland 
in the neighborhood of the coast, and is occasionally to be seen inland, where it also 
breeds. According to Faber, it is a resident of Iceland throughout the year, and is 
said to hatch its eggs about the middle of June. It is given by Dr. Middendorff as 
one of the birds of Siberia, and is included in the list of those that go to the Far 
North. 
They are also mentioned by Dr. Reinhardt as occurring in Greenland, and appear 
to have been observed on all the voyages of Sir Edward Parry. On the first of these 
they were seen abundant in Davis’s Straits and Baffin’s Bay ; during the second they 
were noticed on the rocks, at low-water mark, on Winter Island, in June; on the 
third they were observed at Port Bowen, and on the fourth were found abundant 
along the shores of Hecla Cove, Sir James C. Ross adding that they were seen in 
considerable numbers near Fury Point. Richardson states that this species breeds 
abundantly on Melville Peninsula and on the shores of Hudson’s Bay. He describes 
its eggs as pyriform, 16.50 lines long, and an inch across in its greatest breadth. 
The ground-color is said to be of a yellowish gray, interspersed with small irregular 
spots of pale hair-brown, crowded at the obtuse end, and rare at the other. 
