Brewer’s Changes in our North American Fauna. 51 
Esq., of London, to a specimen which he had fully identified as the 
true European Larus canus. Its label indicated that it had been 
taken on the coast of Labrador in 1860 by Dr. Elliott Coues, — 
given by that gentleman to the Smithsonian collection, — and that 
it had been labelled by him some seventeen years ago as Larus 
delaivarensis. It passed into the possession of Mr. John Krider of 
Philadelphia, by him was sold with other skins to a dealer in Lon- 
don, where, fortunately for the preservation of the record, it was 
found, identified, and secured by Mr. Saunders, who had at once 
recognized it as indisputably the European Sea-Mew. As Mr. 
Saunders has announced his intention of restoring the specimen 
where, in his judgment, it properly belongs, to the Smithsonian col- 
lection, if any doubt is felt as to its identity, there will be full oppor- 
tunity for testing it. It is regarded by Mr. Saunders as the only 
authentic instance, on record, of the procuring the true L. canus in 
North America. 
iEgialitis hiaticula. Ringed Plover. The capture of one of 
this species, a female, by H. W. Feilden, of the British Arctic Expedi- 
tion of 1875 — 76, under circumstances that leave no doubt it was 
nesting in the neighborhood, places it once more, and this time be- 
yond dispute, among the birds of North America. * The individual 
in question was taken August 4, 1875, on the beach bordering the 
valley of the Twin glacier, in Buchanan Strait, latitude 78° 48' N. Its 
more or less common presence in Greenland has been known for some 
time, as also its being migratory, in high northern latitudes, and there 
breeding ; occurring there, according to Hewitson, from March to 
October, and, according to Linnaeus, reaching even the Lapland Alps. 
Scoresby, in his Journal, mentions having met with this species on 
the eastern coast of Greenland, and more recently other arctic ex- 
plorers have observed them on the western coast of the same island, 
at Prince Regent’s Inlet and at Hecla Cove. Professor Newton is 
authority for its breeding generally throughout Greenland, and for 
its being also found on Sabine and Clavering Islands. It is stated 
to be abundant on the shores of Possession Bay as well as Regent’s 
Inlet. It was taken by Professor Torell on the Seven Islands, in 
latitude 80° 45' N., which was, before the recent British expedition, 
the highest known range of any shore bird. Since then Strepsilas 
* Wilson includes “ Characlrius hiaticula ” among American birds, but his ex- 
ample was, without question, the semipalmatus in its spring plumage. 
