Page:Condor14(4).djvu/16

126 .? 'I;HE CONDOR Vol. XI a demonstration. Of the four. .eggs, 0?)e was quite fresh, and the other three were in various stages of incubation. On several occasions we noted the peculiar "nuptial gyrations" in the air, which have been graphically tiescribed by some writers. REMARKS UPON THE 0CC?UI?I?ENCE OF SEVERAL SPECIES OF LIMICOLAE W. W. Cooke in the 'Third Supplement to the Birds of Colorado' (Auk, xxvL 1909, 411), in speaking of the Western Solitary Sandpiper says: "The early publications on Colorado Ornithology included this species among the breed- ing birds of the state, and the same reference has been continued by subsequent writers. As neither eggs nor young birds have ever been reported from the state the assumption of breeding rests on the presence of the birds in pairs during the summer season. Late investigations have shown that many non-breeding Solitary Fig 52. NEST AND EGGS OF ?VILSON SNIPE Sandpipers remain through the summer far south of the breeding groumls, and also that the southward migration of breeding' birds begins soon after the first of July. In the light of these facts it must be considered that, though the species probably does breed in Colorado, yet the actual breeding is not yet proven." While this statement was written over a year after the last of our work at Barr it continned our observations so thoroughly and applied so well to several species beside the one it referred to, that it has been copied verbatim. The most puzzling problem which confronted us was the status of the several species of Sandpipers and other waders, whose breeding ground was generally supposed to be in the far north, which yet were quite common at Barr during at least a portion of the breeding season. The closest attention was given these species, and much tinie was spent in an effort to definitely establish some of them as breeders, yet