158 BlDGWAY on Macrorharnphus griseus, etc. 
true griseus being scarcely represented. Subsequent correspondence 
with Messrs. George N. and Newbold T. Lawrence, of New York 
City, both of whom were much interested in the subject, led to the 
exchange of specimens for examination, and I thus for the first time 
became autoptically acquainted with the Eastern bird. With this 
additional material to aid me, I have reviewed the matter, and the 
result is a perfect correspondence of my views with those of the gen- 
tlemen above named, as embodied in the preceding article, except 
that I cannot regard the two forms as specifically distinct, since 
intermediate specimens do unquestionably occur, although they are 
exceedingly rare. 
The results of my later investigations may be briefly summarized 
as follows : — - 
(1.) That in Western North America specimens never occur which, 
in summer plumage, have the abdomen either whitish or speckled, 
or the sides speckled. _ 
(2 ) That specimens marked as above are peculiar to the Atlan ic 
coast (I have seen none from west of the Alleghanies), where they 
abound during the migrating season, in the proportion of about 
1 000 to 1 of scolopaceus (according to Mr. Lawrence, m epist.). 
(3 ) That size and proportionate length of bill, legs, etc. is much 
more variable in both forms than is the coloration, scolopaceus 
averaging decidedly larger, however, than griseus. ^ 
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 A . 
griseus. The gunners in the vicinity of Kockaway, 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 m 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. XIV, No. 3. . 
t Bulletin of Nuttall Orth. Club, Vol. IV, No. I, p. 61. 
_ i: 
Bidgway on Macrorharnphus griseus, etc. 
157 
M. scolopaceus at Eastham, Mass., by Mr. Frank L. Tileston, Nov. 
2, 1878. 
I have never seen more than one at a time, although an old 
gunner informs me he has had a flock of five come in to his decoys. 
The following are my records of the bird in question : — 
Sept. 27, 1873. Shot a young female out of a small flock of Totanus 
flavipes ; when first seen it was supposed to be a Dowitcher, but at the 
same time I was struck with the large size and length of bill noticeable at 
quite a distance. (This was the first time I had seen the bird alive.) 
Sept. 28, 1873. One observed flying with a flock of Totanus flavipes. 
Sept. 15, 1874. Had a fine specimen alight within a few feet of my 
blind while Snipe-shooting ; it was very gentle, and I watched it for some 
time, but, on starting it up, failed to secure it. 
Sept. 25, 1875. Shot an immature bird in a salt pond on the marshes ; 
peculiarity of note noticed. 
Aug. 7, 1878. Secured an adult specimen in summer plumage; came 
in to the decoys alone ; abdomen uniform pale rufous. 
Oct. 13, 1878. While lying for Ducks at a pond on the marshes early 
one morning, I heard the note of this bird from high overhead, but could 
not see it ; the next moment it darted down and settled alongside of a 
Duck decoy, notwithstanding the water was almost up to its breast, where 
I secured it. 
ON MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEUS (GMEL.) AND M. SCOLO- 
PACEUS (SAY). 
BY ROBERT BlDGWAY. 
Not being fully satisfied in my own mind as to the exact status 
of the bird called Macrorharnphus scolopaceus, and there being much 
variance of opinion among ornithologists concerning the bird in 
question, I was induced, some months since, to submit to a very 
close examination all the material at my command, and to carefully 
analyze all the published data bearing on the subject. The collec- 
tion of birds of this genus in the National Museum, while very ex- 
tensive (embracing no less than 75 specimens), was unfortunately 
deficient in examples from Eastern localities ; therefore the conclu- 
sion arrived at from the study of this material alone proved errone- 
ous, from the fact that nearly all were of the scolopaceus type, the 
