Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- Behavior; Shore birds -- North America
_Casual records._--The purple sandpiper has been reported as seen at the
entrance to St. George Harbor, Bermuda, and there are a few records for
the south Atlantic coast and the interior, among which are: New Jersey,
Delaware Bay (specimen in British Museum), Beach Haven, October 31,
1896, and one found dead at the Absecon Lighthouse; Georgia, one in the
Sennett collection taken, March 5, 1874; Florida, Key Biscayne, October
29, 1857, and Gordan's Pass, November 1, 1886; Missouri, Boonville,
between April 16 and May 31, 1854; Illinois, near Chicago, November 7,
1871; Ohio, Sandusky, November 19, 1925, and Painesville, October 22,
1916, and October 24, 1922; and Wisconsin, Door County, May, 1881.
_Egg dates._--Greenland: 18 records, May 16 to June 30; 9 records, June
1 to 19. Iceland: 6 records, May 21 to June 17. Baffin Island; 2
records, July 21 and 28.
ARQUATELLA PTILOCNEMIS PTILOCNEMIS (Coues)
PRIBILOF SANDPIPER
HABITS
As explained under the Aleutian sandpiper, this bird is probably not a
subspecies of the purple sandpiper; so the name _maritima_ can not be
used for either _ptilocnemis_ or _couesi_. I have therefore thought it
best to follow Ridgway (1919) in the use of his names for the Pribilof
and Aleutian sandpipers, rather than use the Check List names.
The Pribilof sandpiper has the most restricted distribution of any North
American sandpiper. In summer it is confined to the chilly and foggy
uplands of the Pribilof Islands, the equally cool, damp lowlands of St.
Matthew Island, Hall Island, and perhaps St. Lawrence Island, all in
Bering Sea. And its known migration range is limited to a few
localities on the mainland of Alaska and in the Aleutian Islands, where
it probably winters. It may breed more extensively on St. Lawrence
Island than it is now known to do, but it has not yet been found
breeding anywhere on the mainland. G. Dallas Hanna (1921) says:
I strongly suspect that the birds have some other extensive
breeding ground than St. George, St. Paul, and St. Matthew Islands,
because in September and October large flocks come to the two
former islands; these appear to contain many more individuals than
are in existence on all three. Whether St. Lawrence Island supplies
the extra number or not remains for future determination. The
winter range of the species is practically unknown, the only
records being from Portage Bay, southeast Alaska, and Lynn Canal,
between Alaska and British Columbia. The appearance of the birds at
the former locality in flocks in spring (if identifications were
correct) indicates that they wintered farther south, probably on
Vancouver and other islands of British Columbia. They could hardly
have come from beyond these localities and have remained
undiscovered.
_Spring._--The same writer says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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