156 
Lawrence on the Greater Long -Beak. 
another feature, and that is in having the feathers of the breast and 
abdomen edged with a lighter rufous or wdiite, this being particularly 
strongly marked on a specimen in the collection of Mr. George N. 
Lawrence taken in Florida during the spring of 1879. In summer 
specimens of M. griseus, the rufous of the breast blends into white 
on the abdomen, and the whole is more or less spotted. 
In the notes, which are so characteristic of all the Limicolce, and 
in the time of its arrival and departure during the spring and fall 
migrations, it differs essentially from M. griseus. The note of M. 
scolopaceus is much louder and clearer, and easily distinguished from 
the rather plaintive note of M. griseus , bearing about the same rela- 
tion to it as the notes of the Big and Little Yellow-leg bear to each 
other. 
Mr. George Lawrence Nicholas, in speaking of the capture of a 
specimen of this bird last summer, on Shinnecock Bay, says : “ The 
note was entirely different from that of a Dowitcher, being made 
up of several quick sharp whistles. I am quite sure it is not a 
Dowitcher, as it is quite different in color, the under parts being 
like those of Tringa canutus, and only the throat and sides being 
spotted. Mr. Lane, with whom I was staying, says that for the 
past three years he has seen these birds in company with the 
Dowitchers, and they seem to be increasing in numbers. He and 
the other gunners of the house also say they have never heard this 
bird give a note anything like that of the Dowitcher.” * 
In regard to the spring arrival of this bird, Mr. George N. Law- 
rence gives March 20 as the earliest date, he having secured several 
specimens in Fulton Market, N. Y., at that time, from Long Island, 
which is about six weeks earlier than any recorded capture of M. 
griseus. The gunners in the vicinity of Rockaway, L. I., make a dis- 
tinction between the two birds, calling M. scolopaceus the White-tail 
Dowitcher, and say it is the first to come in the spring, and that 
during the southern migrations it remains until late in the fall, 
after the Dowitchers have disappeared. Five of my specimens agree 
with the prevailing opinion of being late migrants ; the sixth is in 
summer plumage, taken in August, and is my earliest record from 
Long Island. 
The latest record I can find of this bird is a note by Dr. Thomas 
M. Brewer, f in which he speaks of the capture of a specimen of 
* “Bird Notes from Long Island,” Forest and Stream, Yol. XIY, No. 3. 
t Bulletin of Nuttall Orth. Club, Yol. IY, No. I, p. 64. ■ 
