222 
PRfECOCIAL G-RALLATORES — LIMICOLfiE. 
rustj r fulvous, irregularly mottled with black, the back, wings, and rump ornamented by yellowish- 
white downy flecks or papillae ; head above deep fulvous brown, with a longitudinal stripe of 
velvety black from the forehead to the occiput, where confluent with a cross band of the same, the 
lores with two nearly parallel longitudinal streaks of black ; there are also other, rather indefinite, 
black markings, chiefly on the superciliary and occipital regions. Lower parts white, becoming 
distinctly fulvous laterally. 
Wing, 4.50-5.15 (4.86) inches ; culmen, .98-1.25 (1.13) ; tarsus, .88-1.00 (.95) • middle toe, 
.78-. 90 (.86). (Extreme and average measurements of 14 adults.) 
Hab. Aleutian Islands and coast of Alaska, north to St. Michael’s; west to Commander 
Islands. 
The present species is closely allied to Arquatella maritima, Brunn., and can 
with difficulty be distinguished in its winter plumage. A close comparison, however, 
shows that in this livery A. Couesi has decidedly less of the purple gloss to the dorsal 
region, where the plumbeous borders to the feathers are both broader and paler ; the 
forenec.k is also invariably squamated or streaked with white, and not uniformly 
mouse-gray, as in maritima. It is still more nearly related to A. ptilocnemis, Cooes, 
of the Prybilof Islands, but averages much smaller, and is always very much darker- 
colored in every stage of plumage. The three are not only strictly congeneric, but 
are very probably the descendants of one original stock ; but, since no intermediate 
specimens have been observed in a large series of each kind, they may lie considered 
as having passed the “ varietal stage,” so that we may treat them as distinct species. 
Both Mr. Harting and Dr. Cones were wrong in referring A. ptilocnemis to the same 
group as Pelidna alpina, which bears only a superficial resemblance in coloration, the 
details of form being quite different. 
While I have been unable to find any name which can be applied to this species, 
it appears that Pallas refers to it in his description of Tringa arquatella , in “ Zoog. 
Bosso-Asiat.” II. p. 190, since he says that specimens of his species from the Kurile 
Islands are marked with rusty yellow, as in the bird under consideration : “ Corpus 
supra plumis fuscis, margine pallidis (in Curilica ave ferrugineo-luteis ) . . . pectore 
cinerescens (in curilica var. lutescens).” All Alaskan references to Tringa maritima 
of course apply to the present species. 
Arquatella ptilocnemis. 
THE PRYBILOF SANDPIPER. 
Tringa crassirostris, “ Temm. & Sciileg.” Dall, Am. Nat. VIII. 1873, 635 (St. Paul’s I. Alaska). — 
Coues, in Elliott’s Alaska, 1873 (not paged.) ; ed. 1875, 182 ; Check List, 1873, no. 426 bis. 
Tringa ptilocnemis, Coues, in Elliott’s Alaska, 1873 (not paged); ed. 1875, 182, footnote; Birds N. 
W. 1874, 491. 
Arquatella ptilocnemis, Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, V. July, 1880, 163 ; Nom. N. Am. B. 1882, 
no. 532. — Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 622. 
Tringa gracilis, Harting, P. Z. S. Apr. 1874, 242 (Prybilof Islands). 
Black-breastecl Sandpiper, Coues, 1. c. 
Hab. Prybilof Islands, Alaska. 
Sp. Char. Similar to A. maritima, but larger, and much lighter colored. Adult, breeding- 
plumage : Back and scapulars light clay-color, or ochraceous, the centre of each feather black, the 
tips of many of them narrowly whitish ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark slate, the feathers in- 
distinctly tipped with plumbeous-gray. Wings plumbeous-gray, the coverts bordered with grayish 
white, the greater coverts widely tipped with pure white ; several (three or four) of the inner 
secondaries (not tertials) wholly pure white ; primaries slate color, with white shafts, the inner 
ones distinctly edged with white toward the base. Pileum light fulvous, widely streaked with 
