SCOLOPACIDrE — THE SNIPE FAMILY — ACTODROMAS. 
229 
in Florida, on the 2d of December. He has always found this species less shy than 
any other of the same genus ; in this respect his observations not according with 
those of G-iraud. 
The author of the “Key to North American Birds ” met with birds of this species 
in Labrador, for the first time, July 30. On the 1st of September, when he left that 
region, it was his belief that they were still as numerous as ever. They were found 
in great abundance on the rocky shores of that region, where covered with seaweeds 
and interspersed with muddy flats and shallow pools, in which these birds wade <prite 
up to their breasts, and also in situations where he never found any other kind of 
Sandpiper — on large masses of rock sloping down abruptly to the water, green and 
slippery from the continued dashing of the spray. The bird seemed to be very fond 
of these localities. 
Of all the Sandpipers, this is spoken of as the most gentle and unsuspecting, and 
as being utterly regardless of the near approach of man, not even intermitting its 
occupation of searching for food, though the observer may be standing within a few 
feet of it. When startled, it flies off in a very compact flock, uttering a low, soft 
tweet , very different from that of any other Sandpiper. If a part of a flock be killed, 
the hunter may make equal havoc with his second barrel, as, after a few circlings, 
those left fly past or alight again on the same spot. This bird flies rapidly, in a rather 
unsteady manner, alternately showing the under and the upper parts, and may 
always be recognized, when on the wing, by the conspicuously white upper tail- 
coverts. It was found associating with the Semipalmated Sandpipers and the King 
Plovers. Those procured were not conspicuously fat. 
Mr. N. B. Moore informs us that he met with this species in Florida during the 
winter months, but that the greater portion seemed to move farther south. The 
same gentleman in 1876 again observed this species on Fortune Island, one of the 
Bahamas, where he procured an example as early as the 6th of August. 
Mr. Nelson found this bird a rather common migrant on the shores of Lake 
Michigan, in Illinois. He met with it as late as the 9th of June. Dr. Hoy writes 
of it as a bird formerly abundant near Kacine during its migrations, but as now quite 
rare ; and Mr. K. P. Clarke is quoted as having taken this species late in autumn 
upon the lake shore near Chicago. Dr. James C. Merrill mentions it as common in 
Southeastern Texas during the winter. 
Mr. L. Kumlien states that this species breeds in Kinguah and Kinguite fiords, 
and in other suitable localities on both shores of Cumberland Sound. Considerable 
numbers were observed along the beach near Nuboyant, on the west shore, in July, 
where they were in all probability breeding. 
Mr. MacFarlane was so fortunate as to meet with several nests, with the eggs, of 
this species on or near the Arctic coast. One of these, taken July 3 on the shore of 
the Arctic Sea, contained four eggs with very large embryos. Another, found on 
the following day, contained three eggs. A third, found June 29 on the Barren 
Grounds, was a mere depression in the ground, lined with a few decayed leaves, con- 
taining four eggs with very large embryos. A fourth, obtained on the banks of a 
small river, was composed of a few decayed leaves, and held four eggs. 
Eggs of this species found on the Barren Grounds, near the Arctic coast, by Mr. 
MacFarlane (S. I. No. 11329), are pyriform in shape, and have a ground-color of a 
rufous drab marked with bold patches of dark sepia brown, interspersed with spots 
in which this shade is deepened almost into blackness, and which are collected in 
confluent groupings around the larger end. These eggs measure 1.35 inches in length 
by .95 in breadth. 
