File:Report upon natural history collections made in Alaska - between the years 1877 and 1881 (1887) (14563755679).jpg

Identifier: reportuponnatura00nelso (find matches)
Title: Report upon natural history collections made in Alaska : between the years 1877 and 1881
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Nelson, Edward William, 1855-1934 Henshaw, Henry W. (Henry Wetherbee), 1850-1930 True, Frederick William, 1858-1914 Bean, Tarleton H. (Tarleton Hoffman), 1846-1916 Edwards, William H. (William Henry), 1822-1909
Subjects: Zoology Birds
Publisher: Washington : Government Printing Office
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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regated about their feeding places they united into flocks of from ten into fifty, but singlebirds were frequently flushed from grassy spots. Their motions on the wing are very similar tothose of the latter, aud they were rarely shy. On October 1,1880, they were found scattered singlyover the marsh, and arose 30 to 40 yards in advance, aud made off with a twisting flight, utteringat the same time a short, soft, metallic ^>?eep, ■^pleep,-a.ud, pursuing an erratic, circuitous flightfor a time, they geuerally returued and settled near the spot whence they started. A single bird taken at Port Clarence, Bering Straits, September 9, by Bean, is the only iustauceof its occurrence there. On the Commander Islands it occurs during the migrations. I do notthink the bird breeds ou the American side. Ou the north shore of Siberia, near North Cape, we found these birds very common, scatteredover damp gras.s flats iiear the coast, the l«t of August, 1881. The ground was covered with Plate vii.
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Ph Q ^ ^ I 1 0I—I i-z p^ BIRDS. 107 reiudeer tracks, and among tbese tbe Sharp-tailed Snipe were seen seeking their food. They werevery irnsuspicious, and allowed us to pass close to them, or circled close about us. From theirmovements, and other circumstances, I judged that this district fotmed part of their breedinggrounds, whence they reach the neighboring coast of Alaska iu fall. They usually make their first appearance on the shore of Norton Sound the last of August,and iu a few days become very common. They sometimes remain up to the 12th of October, andI have seen them searching for food along the tide-line when the ground was covered with 2inches of snow. When feeding along the edges of the tide-creeks they may almost be knocked over with a paddle, and when a flock is fired into it returns again and again. Its exact range isstill undetermined, but it is known to cover the east coast of Asia and adjacent islands. The 1st of September, 1880, Oapt. C. L. Hooper, of the United S

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