SCOLOPACID.E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — ACTODROMAS. 
239 
According to the observations of Mr. Moore, this species is seen in Florida 
throughout the year, always in its winter livery, with no indications that it ever breeds 
there. It is found in company with the Ereunetes jmsilhis. 
Professor Newton met with it in St. Croix in the autumn, where it was observed 
to frequent the pastures as well as the sea-shore ; but rarely were more than two 
seen together. Mr. E. Newton notes its first appearance, August 19. According to 
Gosse, it does not become numerous in Jamaica before the end of the year, and is 
then found in the morasses in flocks of about a dozen, running swiftly over the wet 
soil like other Sandpipers. In the stomachs of these birds were found fragments of 
shells and comminuted animal matter. Mr. Marsh, however, claims that this bird 
is resident -in Jamaica throughout the year, and that it breeds on the Salinas and on 
the sandy beaches. This, however, is questioned by Mr. Salvin, and we think on 
good grounds. The eggs described by Mr. Marsh do not resemble those of this 
species, either in ground-color or markings ; and the character of the nesting, as 
indicated by him, is not that of this Sandpiper. 
Mr. Salvin, as quoted by Mr. Dresser, states that he possesses a specimen of this 
bird from Costa Pica, and that an example was found near Panama by MacLeannan. 
Mr. W. S. Wood ascertained it to be very common at Cartagena in November, 1857, 
and Dr. Habel procured two specimens on one of the Galapagos Islands. Mr. Wal- 
lace met with this bird at the mouth of the Amazon, and Natterer secured two speci- 
mens in Brazil, one in April at Cuyaba, and the other at Matto Grosso in September. 
In the department of Vera Cruz it has been taken in the interior, near Orizaba, and 
also near the City of Mexico. In Guatemala, besides meeting with it on the Pacific 
coast, Mr. Salvin found it to be a regular winter visitant, arriving in autumn and 
departing in spring. In the winter it is found only on the shore, and its visits to 
inland lakes appear to be limited to its passages. In November, 1861, Mr. Salvin 
found it in the grassy swamps which surround the small Lake of Duenas, in the 
highlands of Guatemala, nearly five thousand feet above the sea. 
It is mentioned by Leotaud as occurring in Trinidad in the months of August, 
September, and October, at times in flocks by themselves, but more frequently 
mingled with flocks of the Ereunetes pusillus. In the French West India Islands it 
is known as the Petit Maitre. 
Mr. Dresser found this species making its appearance at Matamoras as early as 
the latter part of July, — this affording remarkable evidence of the rapidity of its 
flight, and confirming the hypothesis that such visitants must be birds that have not 
raised a brood that season. In the early spring Mr. Dresser met with it near San 
Antonio. 
Dr. Walker met with this species on the coast of Greenland; and in the first part 
of June following he found it breeding in the marshy valleys near Bellot’s Strait. 
Mr. Audubon, whilst in Labrador, found this species plentiful, breeding on the 
moss-clad rocks within a short distance of the sea. When startled from its nest, it 
would rise on the wing and move off low over the ground with incurved wings and 
with a slow whirring motion ; or, if on the ground, it moves off slowly and limping 
as if crippled. On the 20th of July, after some search, he found the nest and eggs of 
this species. The bird flew from the nest more in the manner of the Partridge than 
of the Tringce. The nest had been formed apparently by the patting of the bird’s 
feet on the crisp moss ; and in the slight hollow thus produced were laid a few blades 
of slender dry grass, bent in a circular manner, the internal diameter being 2.50 
inches and its depth 1.25. The eggs, he states, measured .93 by .75 of an inch. 
Their ground-color was a rich cream-yellow, blotched with very dark umber, the 
