Chapter XII: Introduction (11)

The skin of the throat and breast becomes very flabby and loose at
this season, and its inner surface is covered with small globular
masses of fat. When not inflated, the skin loaded with this extra
weight and with a slightly serous suffusion which is present hangs
down in a pendulous flap or fold exactly like a dewlap, about an
inch and a half wide. The esophagus is very loose and becomes
remarkably soft and distensible, but is easily ruptured in this
state, as I found by dissection. In the plate accompanying this
report the extent and character of this inflation, unique at least
among American waders, is shown. The bird may frequently be seen
running along the ground close to the female, its enormous sac
inflated, and its head drawn back and the bill pointing directly
forward, or, filled with spring-time vigor, the bird flits with
slow but energetic wingstrokes close along the ground, its head
raised high over the shoulders and the tail hanging almost directly
down. As it thus flies it utters a succession of the hollow,
booming notes, which have a strange ventriloquial quality. At times
the male rises 20 or 30 yards in the air and inflating its throat
glides down to the ground with its sac hanging below, as is shown
in the accompanying plate. Again he crosses back and forth in front
of the female, puffing his breast out and bowing from side to side,
running here and there, as if intoxicated with passion. Whenever he
pursues his love-making, his rather low but pervading note swells
and dies in musical cadences, which form a striking part of the
great bird chorus heard at this season in the north.

Mr. Conover (notes) adds the following:

When the male rises in the air to boom, in sailing to the ground he
throws his wings up over his back, much in the same manner as tame
pigeons when descending from a height; also a male which flew by
with pouch extended was noticed to jerk his head up and down as he
gave his call. The bill was partly open and he gave the appearance
of swallowing air to inflate his throat. As it is the esophagus
which is inflated and not the windpipe, this in all probability is
what he does.

S. A. Buturlin (1907) gives a somewhat different account of it, as observed by him in Siberia, as follows:

One would every now and then stretch both wings right over its
back, and afterwards commence a grotesque sort of dance, hopping
alternately on each leg; another would inflate its gular pouch and
run about, crouching down to the ground, or would fly up to about a
hundred feet in the air, then inflate its pouch and descend slowly
and obliquely to the ground on extended wings. All these
performances were accompanied by a strange hollow sound, not very
loud when near, but audible at some distance, even as far as 500
yards. These notes are very difficult to locate, and vary according
to the distance. When near they are tremulous booming sounds
something like the notes of a frog, and end in clear sounds like
those caused by the bursting of water bubbles in a copper vessel.

_Nesting._--Mr. Murdoch (1885) says:

The nest is always built in the grass, with a decided preference
for high and dry localities like the banks of gulleys and streams.
It was sometimes placed at the edge of a small pool, but always in
grass and in a dry place, never in the black clay and moss, like
the plover and buff-breasted sandpipers, or in the marsh, like the
phalaropes. The nest was like that of the other waders, a
depression in the ground lined with a little dry grass.

A set in my collection, taken by F. S. Hersey, near St. Michael, Alaska, was in a slight hollow on the open tundra with no concealment. And a set in the Herbert Massey collection, taken near Point Barrow by E. A. McIlhenny, came from "a slight hollow lined with dry grass, in the dry, gray moss of the tundra."

Herbert W. Brandt in his manuscript notes says:

The pectoral sandpiper usually chooses for its homesite the upland
rolling tundra, but an occasional isolated pair was found on the
dry grass lands of the tide flats. This species builds the most
substantial of any of the shorebirds nests that we met with at
Hooper Bay, for even after it was removed from the grassy cavity in
which it was built the nest would often hold firmly together. The
birds showed exceptional skill in the concealment of their homes
and consequently they were very difficult to find for they chose a
tract where the curly bunch grass grew abundantly and under its
domed protection they constructed an excavation deep in the moss.
Here a substantial nest is fashioned of grasses and tediously lined
or rather filled with small crisp leaves of the low perennial
plants that there, in a dwarf creeping form, are the only
representatives of the great inland forests. The dimensions vary
between the following extremes: Inside diameter 3 to 3-1/2 inches;
depth 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 inches; and outside depth 3-1/2 to 5 inches.
We never observed other than the female carrying on the loving
duties of incubation and seldom indeed was the male even in close
attendance. The female is very difficult to approach on the nest
because she invariably leaves it before the ornithologist draws
near and consequently we spent many hours endeavoring to watch the
shy bird return to her nest.

The behavior of parent birds about the nests seems to be variable. W. Sprague Brooks (1915) says:

On approaching the vicinity of the nest the bird would leave it
quietly and walk slowly about feeding and showing no excitement
whatever. This happened several times until I decided to watch the
bird and see if by any chance she might have a nest. In a short
time she walked to a bunch of grass a few feet from me and settled
on the nest. Even while I was packing away the eggs she showed no
concern. I had precisely the same experience with the other two
nests.

On the other hand, Alfred M. Bailey (1926) writes:

On July 3 Hendee flushed a female from a set of four slightly
incubated eggs. "The nest," he states, "was in a patch of marsh
grass, similar to the location usually chosen by the phalaropes,
except that the ground was not wet. The female fluttered away to a
distance of about 30 feet and went through a remarkable performance
in her attempt to decoy me from the nest. She crept about among the
hummocks in a very unbirdlike fashion, uttering all the time a
mouse-like squeaking."

_Eggs._--Mr. Brandt in his manuscript notes has described the eggs so well that I can not do better than to quote him, as follows:

The eggs of the pectoral sandpiper are of particular interest
because they are perhaps the most beautiful of the many handsome
shore-bird eggs that are found in the Hooper Bay region. Their rich
and contrasting colors, their bold splashed markings, and high
luster make them veritable gems of oological perfection. In all
nests that came under our observation four eggs constituted the
complement, and these generally nestled points together amid the
crisp leafy lining of their birthplace, standing most often at an
obtuse angle to the horizontal. In outline they range from
subpyriform to ovate pyriform. The exterior of the shell has a
smooth, almost polished surface that reflects in many eggs a high
luster. The ground color varies considerably from dull white to
"cream buff" and even to "deep olive buff," but in all sets I have
seen the ground color and markings follow the same shades and types
in the same set of eggs. The surface markings are bold and
individual, and appear as if they were daubed with a paint brush.
These large rich spots are elongated and are placed parallel to the
long axis of the egg, showing but little tendency to spiral. The
heaviest markings are at the larger end, often merging into a large
"chocolate" blotch, and in one case this rich blot of color covered
more than a fourth of the egg. The color of the markings ranges
from "walnut brown" and "sepia" to "chocolate" and "blackish
brown," with "chocolate" the predominating shade. The underlying
spots are prominent and numerous on some eggs, while on others they
are almost wanting. They vary from "pearl gray" to "violet gray,"
with an occasional egg inclined to "Isabella color." In fact, each
different clutch of eggs exhibits some individual interesting
peculiarity.

My only set, taken for me by Mr. Hersey, would fit the above description very well, but it is not particularly handsome. The ground color is dull white or "pale olive buff," which is more or less evenly marked with small blotches and spots of "bister" and "bone brown." Mr. Murdoch (1885) says that they "may be distinguished from those of the buff-breasted sandpiper, which they closely resemble, by their warmer color." The measurements of 116 eggs, in the United States National Museum and in Mr. Brandt's collection, average 36.5 by 25 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =38.5= by 25, 38 by =27=, =34= by 24.9, and 35.5 by =24.5= millimeters.

_Young._--Mr. Conover writes to me as follows:

The incubation period seems to run from 21 to 23 days. A nest found
May 31 with the complete set of four eggs was hatched on the
morning of June 21. Another nest containing four eggs, from which
the old bird was flushed, was found on June 2 and hatched on June
25. The first young were found on June 21. Contrary to their habits
when there were only eggs in the nest, the mothers now showed great
concern for their young. At one time Murie caught some newly
hatched young, and holding his hand containing them extended on the
ground, induced the old bird to come up and brood the chicks. She
was so tame that he caught and banded her without difficulty. The
male seems to take no part on the incubation or care of the young.
He was often seen to join a hen driven from the nest, but only for
purposes of courtship, as he would start booming immediately and
chase her about. Before the eggs began to hatch, male birds seemed
to disappear from the tundra. There was never more than one bird
seen with the young. Thirty days seemed to be about the time
necessary for the chicks to mature, as by July 20 fully fledged
young were seen commonly about the tundra.

Mr. Buturlin (1907) says:

When I approached the breeding ground the old birds flew to meet
me, one after another, and wheeled around uttering low tremulous
notes of various kinds. These calls were evidently meant for the
young and had different meanings. When the female is with them (and
you must sit watching for an hour or more to observe this), the
little ones are somewhat shy and take refuge under her. If you make
the slightest movement she flies up, uttering the usual _kirip_,
and kicks the young forwards, never backwards, until they tumble
head over heels 5 or 6 inches away. There they lie as if dead, but
with open eyes, and the mother flies around uttering a low
tremulous _kirip, kirip, trip, trrrrrr_, evidently meaning "lie
quite still." Then she alights near the young and runs about
feigning lameness, while trying in every way to make you attempt to
capture her. If, however, you keep quite quiet she becomes
reassured, approaches near to where her young are, and utters with
tender modulations, _day-day-day, day-day-day_, which means
evidently "all right, come here." Then the chicks commence to chirp
_peep, peep, peeyp_, and run to their mother. On one occasion I
observed all this at a distance of about 10 paces, and once I was
only about 3 paces from them. The downy young know their mother's
call _day-day-day_ so well that on one occasion a young bird, which
I was taking home in my butterfly net, when it heard a female call
quite close to me, climbed out of the net to rejoin her.

Mr. Brandt in his manuscript notes writes:

The potential energy stored up in the small richly colored eggs of
this northern sandpiper is almost beyond comprehension. The downy
chicks, as soon as they are out of the shell, show wonderful
activity. When they are but 30 minutes old, their apparently slight
legs carry them over the ground with great rapidity. They know at
birth how to hide among the hummocks and vegetation so as to defy
the sharpest eyes. In three weeks they are awing and six weeks
later they are off on their long journey to the south, crossing
mighty mountain ridges, great stretches of land and of sea.

According to W. H. Hudson (1920), the pectoral sandpiper arrives in the La Plata region, in southern South America, about the end of August, and he writes:

Among these first comers there are some young birds, so immature,
with threads of yellow down still adhering to the feathers of the
head, and altogether weak in appearance, that one can scarcely
credit the fact that so soon after being hatched they have actually
performed the stupendous journey from the northern extremity of the
North American continent to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas.

_Plumages._--The young pectoral in down is a beauty and is distinctively colored. The forehead, back to the eyes, lores, sides of the head and neck, and the breast are from "cinnamon buff" to "cream buff," paling to white or grayish white on the throat and belly. There is a broad, black, median stripe from the crown to the bill, a narrow, black loral stripe, which is joined by another, still narrower, malar stripe under the eye, extending to the auriculars; below the ear is a dark-brown spot. In the center of the crown is a black spot, surrounded by a circle of buffy white dots; around this the crown is a mixture of black and "burnt sienna," bordered with buffy white, except in front; and around this border, or along each side of it, is a narrow stripe of blackish brown above the buffy superciliary stripe. The nape is grizzly brown, buff, and whitish. The back, wings, and thighs are variegated with black, "chestnut," and "burnt sienna," and decorated with small dots of buffy white in an irregular pattern.

The juvenal plumage is much like that of the summer adult, except that the feathers of the mantle, scapulars, and the median and lesser wing coverts are edged with brighter colors, "tawny," "ochraceous-buff," and creamy white; and the breast is more buffy or yellowish. This plumage is apparently worn all through the fall and winter or until the first prenuptial molt in February and March, when the body plumage is renewed. At the first postnuptial molt, the next summer, the young bird becomes indistinguishable from the adult, having molted the entire plumage.

Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in the spring, from February to June, which involves the body plumage, except the back and rump and some of the scapulars, tertials, and wing coverts. The complete postnuptial molt of adults is much prolonged; the body molt begins in August, but the wings are not molted until the bird reaches its winter home, beginning in October and often lasting until February. Two adult females taken by Doctor Wetmore (1926) on September 9 in Paraguay "were in worn breeding plumage with no indication of molt." And one shot in Uruguay February 8 had renewed all but a few feathers of the entire plumage, while a male taken the same day was molting its primaries. There is very little difference between the summer and winter plumages; the feather edgings of the upper parts are more rufous in summer and more ashy in winter.

_Food._--According to Preble and McAtee (1923), the contents of 21 well-filled gizzards of this species consisted principally of "flies (Diptera), 54.5 per cent; amphipods, 22.3 per cent; vegetable matter, chiefly algae, 10.5 per cent; beetles, 8 per cent; Hymenoptera, 2.1 per cent; and bugs (Hemiptera), 1.3 per cent." Other things eaten were mites, spiders, and caddis fly larvae and a few seeds of grass, lupine, and violet. P. L. Hatch (1892) says that "their food is principally crickets in spring, interlarded with various dry-land larvae, small beetles, and ground worms. In the fall the grasshoppers are first chosen, after which crickets and whatever other insects prevail at this season." Birds taken by B. S. Bowdish (1902) in Porto Rico had eaten fiddler crabs. Pectoral sandpipers feed mainly in grassy meadows, more or less dry, and their food is chiefly insects.

_Behavior._--On the grassy salt meadows, where we usually find it, I have often been impressed with the resemblance of this sandpiper and the Wilson snipe, both in appearance and in behavior. It is often found in wisps or scattered flocks, the individuals widely separated and crouching in the grass. Often it flushes close at hand with a startling harsh cry and dashes hurriedly away with a zigzag flight. Sometimes it flutters away for only a short distance and drops quickly into the grass. Again it makes a long flight, circling high in the air and then pitches down suddenly in some distant part of the marsh, or perhaps near the starting point. Though erratic at first, the flight is swift and direct when well under way. They sometimes fly in flocks like other sandpipers, but more often they are flushed singly. They usually flock by themselves but are sometimes associated, purely fortuitously I believe, with other species that frequent similar feeding grounds, such as Wilson snipe, Baird, least or semipalmated sandpipers.

The pectoral sandpiper has another snipelike habit of standing motionless in the grass, relying on its concealing coloration, where its striped plumage renders it almost invisible, even in plain sight. It moves about slowly while feeding, probing in the mud with rapid strokes. Often it stands perfectly still with its head held high, watching an intruder; the dark markings on its neck end abruptly on the white breast, breaking up the outline and helping the bird to fade into the background. It is occasionally seen swimming across a narrow creek or channel.

_Voice._--This is a rather noisy bird, especially so on its breeding ground, and its short, sharp flight notes are quite characteristic of the "creaker." Mr. Nichols contributes the following good description of them:

The notes of the pectoral sandpiper have a reedy character,
intermediate in tone between the clearer calls of most shore birds
and the hoarse cry of the Wilson's snipe. This is in keeping with
its habits. Its characteristic flight note is a loud reedy _kerr_,
resembling that of the semipalmated sandpiper (_cherk_) more
closely than any other shore bird call, but recognizably heavier.
Rarely in flight, the _kerr_ varies into or is replaced by a
near-whistled _krru_. On being flushed it often has hoarse, hurried
cheeping notes, analogous with similar harsher notes of the
Wilson's snipe. When in a flock of its own kind, alert and on the
move, it has a short, snappy flocking note, a chorus of _tcheps_ or
_chips_. To my ear its flushing note is more or less a combination
of flight note and flocking note, and it may reasonably be so. The
flocking note communicates alertness to near-by members of a flock;
the flight note is used more emphatically by birds separated from
their companions or in active flight and disposed for
companionship, whereas on being flushed the bird is signaling to
possible companions; but as it has been feeding singly, concealed
from such others as there may be by the grass, their distance is
uncertain.

_Field marks._--The pale-gray, almost white, tail with its dark, almost black, center and rump, is conspicuous in flight; a pale stripe in the wing is less noticeable. The snipelike colors of the upper parts, the dark, heavily streaked breast, contrasted sharply with the white under parts, and the short olive-yellow legs are good field marks when the bird is standing. The males are much larger than the females, which is unusual among shore birds.

_Fall._--Regarding their departure from their breeding grounds, Murdoch (1885) says:

After the breeding season, they keep very quiet and retired, like
the rest of the waders, and the adults appear to slip quietly away
without collecting into flocks, as soon as the young are able to
take care of themselves. As soon as the young have assumed the
complete fall plumage, that is about the 10th of August, they
gather in large flocks with the other young waders, especially
about the small ponds on the high land below Cape Smythe, and stay
for several days before they take their departure for the South.
Stray birds remain as late as the first week of September.

On the New England coast the pectoral is both an early and a late migrant; a few adults sometimes appear in July and more come in August; but the main flight, mostly young birds, comes in September and October; they are often abundant in the latter month and I have seen them as late as October 31. When with us it is seldom seen on the sandy flats or beaches, but frequents the wet, fresh and salt meadows, preferably where the grass has been cut and which after a rain are covered with shallow pools of water. Here and along the margins of marshy creeks are its favorite feeding grounds. It does not decoy well and is no longer considered a game bird, but it has been popular with sportsmen for its gamy qualities and for the excellence of its flesh.

There is a marked southeastward trend in the fall migration of this species; from its breeding grounds in northern Alaska and northeastern Siberia its main flight seems to be towards the Atlantic coast of the United States; it is not abundant and rather irregular on the Pacific coast south of Alaska; it is common at times in the interior of Canada and usually abundant in New England. It occasionally occurs in enormous numbers in Bermuda and seems to be always rare in Florida; these facts would seem to indicate an ocean route to South America.

_Winter._--The winter home of the pectoral sandpiper is in southern South America. Arthur H. Holland (1891) says that in the Argentine Republic, it is "usually found in marshy land with long water weeds abounding, frequenting the same spot for weeks together." Between September and March 26, Doctor Wetmore (1926) recorded it as "fairly common" at various places in Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. It evidently spends over half the year in its winter home and makes very rapid flights to and from its Arctic breeding grounds, where it makes a short visit of about two months.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Northeastern Siberia, and North and South America; accidental in the Hawaiian Islands and the British Isles.

_Breeding range._--The pectoral sandpiper breeds mainly on the Arctic coasts of Alaska and Mackenzie. North to Siberia (Kolyma Delta); Alaska (Cape Lisburne, Cape Smythe, Point Barrow, Colville delta, Collinson Point, Barter Island, and Demarcation Point); Yukon (Herschel Island); northeastern Mackenzie (Cambridge Bay); and northeastern Manitoba (York Factory). East to northeastern Manitoba (York Factory). South to Manitoba (York Factory); Mackenzie (Clinton-Colden Lake and Lac de Gras); and Alaska (Tacotna Forks and Hooper Bay). West to Alaska (Hooper Bay, Fort Clarence, Point Hope, and Cape Lisburne); and northeastern Siberia (Kolyma Delta). It has also been reported in summer at Fort Anderson and Bernard Harbor, Mackenzie, and in northwestern Greenland (Cape Hatherton).

Summer occurrence outside the range above outlined are Keewatin (Cape Eskimo); Manitoba (Button Bay); southwestern Alaska (Nushagak); and northeastern Siberia (Cape Serdze, and Nijni Kolymsk).

_Winter range._--South America. North to Ecuador (near Quito); Bolivia (Falls of the Madeira, San Luis, and Caiza); and Paraguay (Colonia Risso). East to Uruguay (Santa Elena); and Argentina (Buenos Aires, La Plata, Barracas, Chubut Valley, Port Desire, and Colonia Rouquand). South and west to Argentina (Colonia Rouquand). West also to Chile (Santiago, Huasco, Antofagasta, Atacama, and Tarapaca); Peru (Chorillos and Junin); and Ecuador (near Quito).

_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are: Florida, Fort De Soto, February 22, and Orange Hammock, February 25; Alabama, Greensboro, March 20; South Carolina, Frogmore, March 20; North Carolina, Raleigh, March 21; District of Columbia, Washington, March 26; Pennsylvania, Carlisle, March 28, Beaver, April 1, and Harrisburg, April 7; New York, Canandaigua, April 14, Buffalo, April 18, Gaines, May 5, and Orient, May 7; Massachusetts, Thompson's Island, March 30, Monomoy Island, April 11, and Dennis, April 16; Maine, Scarboro, April 13; Quebec, Quebec, May 2; Louisiana, Lake Borgne, March 12, New Orleans, March 18, and Baton Rouge Parish, March 19; Mississippi, Biloxi, February 28; Arkansas, Glenwood, March 27; Kentucky, Bowling Green, April 29; Missouri, St. Louis, March 2, Warrenburg, March 11, Fayette, March 16, and Independence, March 18; Illinois, Englewood, March 9, Rantoul, March 14, Mount Carmel, March 15, Canton, March 26, and Chicago, March 29; Indiana, Bloomington, March 15, Terre Haute, March 17, Bicknell, March 18, and Greencastle, March 22; Ohio, Columbus, March 1, New Bremen, March 24, Columbus, March 25, Oberlin, March 25, Cincinnati, March 28, and Youngstown, March 31; Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 8, and Detroit, April 12; Ontario, Ottawa, April 27, and Fort Williams, May 10; Iowa, Keokuk, March 14, La Porte, March 25, Sigourney, March 26, and Des Moines, March 31; Wisconsin, Milwaukee, March 26, and Madison, March 31; Minnesota, Heron Lake, April 1, Hutchinson, April 5, and Wilder, April 6; Texas, Santa Maria, February 28, Houston, March 7, and Hidalgo, March 16; Oklahoma, Ponca City, March 31; Kansas, Topeka, March 29, and McPherson, April 9; Nebraska, Lincoln, March 10; South Dakota, Sioux Falls, April 10, and Forestburg, April 20; North Dakota, Charlson, April 27; Manitoba, Pilot Mound, May 1, Reaburn, May 9, and Margaret, May 9; Saskatchewan, Lake Johnston, May 9; Mackenzie, Sturgeon River, May 12, Fort Providence, May 14, Fort Simpson, May 16, and Fort Resolution, May 19; Colorado, Denver, April 21; Montana, Fergus County, April 22; Washington, Menlo, April 1; Yukon, Forty-mile, May 16, and Dawson, May 19; and Alaska, Bethel, May 4, St. Michael, May 15, Demarcation Point, May 23, Kowak River, May 27, and Point Barrow, May 30.

Late dates of spring departure are: Costa Rica, Buenos Aires de Terrabe, May 29, and San Jose, May 19; Florida, Fort De Soto, May 20; Pennsylvania, Doylestown, May 27; New Jersey, Elizabeth, May 30; New York, Canandaigua, May 24; Massachusetts, near Boston, June 3; Louisiana, New Orleans, May 20; Mississippi, Bay St. Louis, May 10; Arkansas, Arkansas City, May 15; Kentucky, Bowling Green, May 11; Missouri, Lake Taney Como, May 7, St. Louis, May 11, and Columbia, May 15; Illinois, Elgin, May 12, Addison, May 17, La Grange, May 17, Havana, May 24, and Chicago, June 18; Indiana, Greencastle, May 4, Lyons, May 6, Crawfordsville, May 8, and Bloomington, May 9; Ohio, Tiffin, May 15, Oberlin, May 20, Columbus, May 21, and Youngstown, May 24; Michigan, Detroit, May 13, Hillsdale, May 17, and Ann Arbor, May 19; Ontario, Ottawa, May 25; Iowa, Lake Okoboji, May 27, Emmetsburg, May 28, Sioux City, May 30, and Forest City, May 31; Wisconsin, Elkhorn, May 14, and Madison, May 19; Minnesota, Heron Lake, May 16, Minneapolis, May 18, Hutchinson, May 19, and Hallock, May 28; Texas, Sweetwater, May 8, Corpus Christi, May 11, and Decatur, May 19; Kansas, Fort Riley, May 24, and Onaga, May 24; Nebraska, Valentine, May 17, and Neligh, May 26; South Dakota, Vermilion, May 12, and Sioux Falls, June 11; North Dakota, Charlson, May 11; Manitoba, Winnipeg, May 24, and Shoal Lake, June 2; Montana, Big Sandy, May 18; and Washington, Fort Steilacoom, May 5.

_Fall migration._--Early dates of fall arrivals are: British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, July 16; Washington, Tacoma, August 17; California, Redwood City, August 22; Montana, Sweetgrass Hills, August 11; Wyoming, Yellowstone Park, July 19; Colorado, Denver, July 28; Mackenzie, Fort Wrigley, July 19; Saskatchewan, Milk River, July 16, and Big Stick Lake, July 18; Manitoba, Moosejaw, July 7; North Dakota, Charlson, July 20; South Dakota, Forestburg, July 8, Huron, July 15; Nebraska, Valentine, August 8; Texas, Brownsville, August 2, Tivoli, August 8; Minnesota, Minneapolis, July 15, Lanesboro, July 18, and St. Vincent, July 24; Wisconsin, Madison, July 22, North Freedom, July 25, and Racine, July 30; Iowa, Marshalltown, July 8, and Wall Lake, July 23; Ontario, Toronto, July 14, and Todmorden, July 23; Michigan, Detroit, July 14, and Charity Islands, July 27; Ohio, Dayton, July 20, Bay Point, July 24, Painesville, July 25, and North Lima, July 27; Illinois, Chicago, July 2, and La Grange, July 27; Mississippi, Bay St. Louis, July 15, and Beauvoir, July 26; Nova Scotia, Digby, July 26; New Brunswick, Scotch Lake, August 9; Maine, Pittsfield, July 26; Massachusetts, Marthas Vineyard, July 11; New York, Syracuse, July 2, Orient, July 4, Rochester, July 10, and East Hampton, July 11; New Jersey, Elizabeth, July 14, and Camden, August 16; Pennsylvania, Beaver, August 6; District of Columbia, Washington, August 10; Virginia, Chincoteague, August 1; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, July 21, and Frogmore, August 1; Alabama, Leighton, July 24; Florida, Fort De Soto, July 25, and Key West, July 26; Bermuda, Penistons Pond, August 3; Bahama Islands, Fortune Island, August 5; Porto Rico, Guayanilla, August 24; West Indies, Barbados, August 16, Guadeloupe, September 2, and St. Croix, September 14; Lower California, San Jose del Cabo, September 2; Guatemala, Duenas, September 2; Costa Rica, San Jose, September 7; and Colombia, Santa Marta, September 14.

Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska, St. George Island, October 3, Unalaska, October 5, St. Paul Island, October 8, and Nushagak, October 15; British Columbia, Comox, October 15, Chilliwak, October 19, and Okanagan Landing, November 5; Washington, Nisqually Flats, November 6, and Simiahmoo, November 1; Oregon, Cold Springs Bird Reserve, October 27; California, Oakland, October 8; Lower California, San Jose del Cabo, October 24; Costa Rica, La Estrella de Cartago, November 5; Montana, Flathead Lake, October 20, and Terry, October 21; Idaho, Deer Flat, November 1; Colorado, Barr, October 5; Mackenzie, Slave River, September 29, and Blackwater, October 7; Manitoba, Winnipeg, October 18, and Winnipeg, October 29; South Dakota Wall Lake, October 14, and Sioux Falls, November 5; Nebraska, Lincoln, November 4; Minnesota, Hallock, October 16, and St. Vincent, October 25; Wisconsin, Madison, October 11; Iowa, Marshalltown, November 18, and Keokuk, November 24; Ontario, London, October 16, Toronto, October 27, and Ottawa, November 5; Michigan, Hillsdale, October 6, Bay City, October 21, and Detroit, October 29; Ohio, Youngstown, November 5, Dayton, November 18, and Columbus, November 28; Indiana, Lafayette; October 5, and Bicknell, November 1; Illinois, Chicago, October 3, and Lawrenceville, November 13; Quebec, Montreal, November 1, Quebec, November 10, and Anticosti Island, November 12; Maine, Lewiston, October 13, and Pittsfield, November 10; Massachusetts, Lynn, October 28, Harvard, October 30, and Monomoy Island, November 1; New York, Long Beach, November 7, Keuka, November 12, and Branchport, November 23; New Jersey, Camden, November 8; Pennsylvania, Erie, October 31, and Carlisle, November 2; District of Columbia, Anacostia, November 1; North Carolina, Raleigh, November 15; Florida, Lake Jackson, November 22, and Palma Sola, November 29; and Bermuda, St. George, October 9.

_Casual records._--The pectoral sandpiper has been taken twice in the Hawaiian Islands, Koahualu, August 6, 1900, and October 14, 1900; once at Hopedale, Labrador; and several times in Greenland, in summer and fall. Observed in Labrador, Rigolet, June 24 to July 8, 1882, and Davis Inlet, July 18, 1883. In Europe it has apparently been detected only in the British Isles, where there are several records from Scotland and Ireland and the southern counties of England.

_Egg dates._--Alaska: 16 records, May 27 to July 3; 8 records, June 2 to 18. Arctic Canada: 3 records, June 10 to 30.

PISOBIA FUSCICOLLIS (Vieillot)

WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER

HABITS

The white-rumped, or Bonaparte, sandpiper is a great traveller; it breeds in a limited area on the Arctic coast of North America and winters in extreme southern South America.

_Spring._--From its winter home in South America, this sandpiper makes an early start; Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1926) writes:

At Guamini, Buenos Aires, from March 3 to 8, white-rumped
sandpipers were encountered in northward migration from a winter
range in Patagonia. The species was fairly common on March 3 and
increased greatly in abundance on the two days that followed. The
northward journey was apparently as concerted as the movement that
carried the birds southward, as on March 6 there was a noticeable
decrease in their numbers, and by March 8, though the birds were
still common, the bulk of individuals had passed. They arrived in
flocks from the southward, often of several hundred individuals,
that whirled in and circled back and forth along the lake shore to
decoy to birds feeding on the strand or to rise again and continue
swiftly northward. Those that paused kept up a busy search for food
along the muddy beaches in or near shallow water, or in company
with little parties of buff-breasted sandpipers on the drier
alkaline flats back of the shore line. In early morning they were
especially active and were in continual movement. Occasionally they
worked out into comparatively deep water where in feeding it is
necessary to immerse the head over the eyes nearly to the ear
openings. When disturbed flocks rose with soft notes that resembled
_tseet tseet_ or _tseup_ to circle to new feeding grounds on the
lake shore.

The spring migration route is apparently northward along the Atlantic coast of South America and through the West Indies to the United States. Only a few migrate along our Atlantic coast, as the main flight is northward through the interior, during May and the first few days of June. Many reach their breeding grounds before the end of May.

_Courtship._--Doctor Wetmore (1926) gives an attractive account of what seems to be a beginning of courtship in Argentina; he writes:

Occasional parties of males, animated by the approaching breeding
season, broke into soft songs and called and twittered, often for
several minutes, in a musical chorus in low tones that had so
little carrying power that they merged in the strong wind, and it
was some time before I succeeded in picking out the sweet
individual songs _tsep a tsep a tsep a_ or _twee twee tee tee ty
tee_ given as the head was bobbed rapidly up and down. Occasionally
when the fall sunlight came warmly I sat in the mud and let little
bands of white rumps work up around me until they were feeding and
calling within a meter or so, eyeing me sharply for any cause of
alarm. At such times their twittering choruses came sweetly and
pleasantly, clearly audible above the lap of waves and the rush of
the inevitable winds of the pampas. Between songs the search for
food continued without cessation. At short intervals, activated by
the warmth of the sun, they suddenly indulged in dozens of combats
with their fellows, bloodless affrays, of bluff and retreat, where
they lowered their heads and with open mouths ran at one another
pugnaciously. The one attacked sidled quickly away or fluttered off
for a short distance, save where two of equal temperament chanced
to clash when first one and then the other threatened with raised
wings in alternate advance and retreat until the fray was concluded
to their mutual satisfaction. At such times the movements of these
otherwise plain little birds were sprightly and vivacious to a
degree. Their loquacity at this season was marked as it contrasted
strikingly with their silence and quiet during the resting period
of southern summer. Flocks frequently rose to perform intricate
evolutions and then returned with a rush to sweep along the shore
and join less ambitious comrades. As they passed the white rump
flashed plainly, certain advertisement of the species. At times the
chattering of these active flocks reminded me of the twittering of
swallows.

J. Dewey Soper found this species quite common at various places on Baffin Island, and has sent me some very full notes on it, from which I quote as follows:

The species was encountered at Nettilling Lake, June 10, 1925, when
a mated pair was flushed from a marshy upland near the Takuirbing
River. The sexual organs in both were fully developed, the female
being almost on the point of laying. By the 14th the species had
become quite common. The males practised their vocal performance on
the wing immediately upon arrival. They rise to a height of about
60 feet above the tundra and there they hover with rapidly beating
wings giving utterance to their nuptial song in notes so weak that
when a wind is blowing nothing may be heard of it even at
comparatively close range. It is given in a very low tone and slow
tempo; the notes are weak and inclined to be squeaky, with a weird
dripping quality like the sound of water oozing and dropping in a
small cavern. The species appears to flush silently.

_Nesting._--Very little seems to be known and still less has been published about the nesting habits of the white-rumped sandpiper. In MacFarlane's notes I find brief records of seven nests found by his party on the barren grounds and Arctic coast of Canada, from 1862 to 1865. One nest was found on June 21, 1862, 50 miles east of Fort Anderson; the female and three eggs were taken; the nest consisted of a few leaves in a small hole in the ground near a small lake. Another found on June 29, 1863, on the barren grounds, is described as "a mere depression in the ground lined with a few decayed leaves"; the female and four eggs were taken. There is a set of four eggs in the Herbert Massey collection, taken with the parent bird by E. A. McIllhenny at Point Barrow, Alaska, on June 25, 1898; the nest is described as "a hollow in the moss on top of a ridge on the tundra, lined with dry grass and partly arched over." This is farther west than the species is supposed to breed, but there are several birds in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences collected there in June, which are in full breeding plumage.

Mr. Soper found a number of nests near Nettilling Lake, Baffin Island, on which he has sent me the following notes:

A nest containing four eggs was found on a grassy hummock on the
tundra bordering the lake on June 16. Many were subsequently found.
The nest is merely a shallow depression on the crown of a tussock
of grass and mosses a few inches above the surrounding mud and
water of the tundra. It is sparingly lined with blades of old grass
and dead leaves of the dwarf arctic willow. Some are lined
exclusively with the dried, oval leaves of _Salix herbacea_.
According to collecting data, both sexes arrive together, with the
female almost, if not quite, ready for immediate reproduction, as
evidenced by the condition of the ovaries. The nest of four eggs
found on June 16 was but four days after the first observed
arrivals of the species.

The female upon one's approach plays the familiar artifice of
simulating a prostrated condition, limping and dragging herself
along the ground in an effort to attract one's attention from the
nest. In this they are bold and fearless; and when one sits beside
the nest they will frequently run up to within a foot or less of
the observer. In photographing nests from a distance of only a few
feet, the female will often return to her eggs while one's head is
under the dark cloth adjusting the focus. One was so devoted to
her eggs that she would run up and peck at my fingers and run over
my hand as I extended it toward the nest. This species, when one
approaches the nest, usually leaves it when one is 20 to 25 yards
distant and runs along the ground, either directly toward the
intruder or a little to one side. Because of its remarkable
similarity to the covering of the tundra at this time, this first
movement often escapes one, and consequently when the bird is
first observed fluttering along the ground one naturally imagines
himself near the nest, when, in reality, it may be 20 or 30 yards
away. This ruse is a clever one, and no doubt would often save the
nest from violation. The nests are easily found by retiring and
watching the female with the glasses. They usually return to the
nest with little artifice or delay; in fact, often within two or
three minutes. The above procedure is not an invariable practice,
as one female I knew would flush directly from the nest to begin
her tactics only when there was danger of the nest being actually
trodden upon.

_Eggs._--The four eggs usually laid by the white-rumped sandpiper are ovate pyriform in shape; all that I have seen are uniform in shape and have characteristic colors and markings. One of the two sets in the United States National Museum has a "deep olive buff" ground color, and the eggs are heavily blotched about the larger end, sparingly spotted elsewhere with "wood brown," "warm sepia," and "benzo brown," and with a few underlying spots of various shades of "brownish drab"; an egg from this set is well figured by Frank Poynting (1895). The other set differs from this one in having the ground color lighter, "olive buff," and the spots finer, more scrawly, and lighter in color; the underlying drab markings are also more numerous.

There is also a set of four eggs in the Thayer collection, taken with the parent bird by Alfred H. Anderson on Taylor Island, Victoria Land, July 7, 1919. These eggs are much like the egg figured by Mr. Poynting, except that in one or two of the eggs the ground color is more greenish.

One of the three sets taken by J. Dewey Soper on Baffin Island looks much like a miniature set of long-billed curlew's eggs. In three of the eggs the ground color is "mignonette green," covered with small spots, more thickly at the larger end, of "bister" and "snuff brown"; the other has a "deep lichen green" ground color and is irregularly blotched near the larger end, finely speckled elsewhere with "bister" and "brownish drab."

The measurements of 34 eggs average 33.7 by 24 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =36.1= by 23.6, 34.2 by =27.7=, =31.5= by 23.5, and 35 by =22.8= millimeters.

_Young._--Mr. Soper's notes on the young are as follows:

The first juveniles, about a day old, were seen and collected on
July 11. They were exceedingly active, a good example of precocial
young. These were ashy below, buffy above, with black markings, and
the down over the lower back and rump tipped with small spots of
white. This species is much more demonstrative and less artful in
the concealment of young than Baird's sandpiper. The adults come
within a few feet of the intruder, and by their action advertise
much more clearly the position of the young. The parent birds keep
up a continual fine twittering cry of alarm, the female louder and
more pronounced. The male comes on the scene only at intervals with
a mouse-like squeaking note. The young are adepts in the art of
concealment, "freezing" flat to the ground with warning notes from
the adults. They will lie in this fashion as though dead until
actually picked up in the hand. When they realize the game is up
they then become wild and frantically struggle to escape. When
allowed to do so they will run rapidly away and either hide again
or attempt to reach the mother bird, whose frantic cries come from
but a few yards away.

A young white rump about two-thirds grown and almost on the point
of flight was captured on August 1. Others seen a few days later on
the shore of Kuksunittuk Bay were capable of short flights. As an
experiment, I tried several times to keep individual young alive at
my base tent on the Takuirbing River, but they invariably died
within about 24 hours regardless of the best care.

_Plumages._--The downy young white rumped is much like the downy young of other tundra nesting species of sandpipers. From the stilt sandpiper it can be distinguished by its much shorter legs and shorter and slenderer bill, from the Baird by its more buffy face and breast, these parts being pure white in _bairdi_, and from the least by paler and duller browns in the upper parts and by white, instead of buffy terminal tuft spots. The crown, back, rump, wings, and thighs are variegated or marbled with "Sanford's brown," or "tawny," and black, dotted, except on the front half of the crown, which is mainly bright brown, with whitish terminal tufts. The forehead, a broad superciliary stripe, the sides of the head, throat, and breast are pale buff or buffy white; the remaining under parts are grayish white. A median frontal stripe of black terminates in "tawny" toward the bill; there are extensive black areas on either side of the crown and on the occiput. The nape is grizzly, buff, gray and dusky.

In juvenal plumage the crown is sepia with "tawny" edgings; the back, rump, tertials, and scapulars are sepia, with "tawny" edges, and some of the feathers of the mantle and scapulars are also white tipped; the under parts are white, but the breast is suffused with light buff and narrowly streaked with dusky; the median and lesser wing coverts are broadly edged with light buff or whitish.

The postjuvenal molt of the body plumage usually occurs in September and October, mainly in the latter month, but sometimes not until November. The upper body plumage is not all molted, so that first winter birds can be distinguished by tawny or buffy edged feathers in the mantle and by the juvenal wing coverts. The next partial prenuptial molt apparently removes all traces of immaturity.

Adults have a prenuptial molt, beginning in March, of the under-body plumage, most of the upper-body plumage, sometimes the tail, and some of the wing coverts. But this is almost immediately preceded by the delayed molt of the remiges in January and February, so that it seems to be a nearly complete prenuptial molt, which is barely finished before the birds start on their long northward migration. The postnuptial molt of adults, beginning in August and often lasting into October, involves only the body plumage, the tail, and some scapulars, tertials, and wing coverts. The gray winter plumage, so different from the brightly colored spring plumage, is seldom seen in its completeness before the birds go south.

_Food._--Very little seems to have been published on the food of the white-rumped sandpiper, but W. L. McAtee (1911) gives it credit for eating some injurious insects and worms, such as grasshoppers, the clover-root curculio, which is injurious to clover, and marine worms (_Nereis_), which prey on oysters.

Stuart T. Danforth (1925) says that four collected in Porto Rico--

had eaten 77.7 per cent of animal food and 22.3 per cent of
vegetable matter. Fifty per cent of the animal matter consisted of
bloodworms, 25 per cent of Planorbis snails, and 5 per cent of
_Corixa reticulata_. The vegetable matter consisted entirely of
seeds, of which those of Compositae formed 33.3 per cent, _Sesban
emerus_ 30 per cent, and _Persicaria portoricensis_ 36.7 per cent.
In addition to food, the stomachs contained mineral matter (coarse
red sand) forming 32.5 per cent of the stomach contents.

_Behavior._--Lucien M. Turner, who has had abundant opportunity to observe this species in Ungava, writes in his notes:

The flight of these birds is remarkably firm and swift, generally
in an undulatory manner and swerving to the right or left often
with the body inclined to one side, the wing nearly perpendicular,
alternately presenting the upper and lower surface of the body.
Just before alighting the wings are raised until the tips nearly
touch over the back and for a moment held outstretched and then
slowly folded. The bird is quite active while searching for food
and seldom remains more than a few seconds in a spot, where it
constantly picks here and there for the minute organisms which form
its food. During this time all is activity and quite in contrast to
the interval while the tide is high and the bird is on the high
land resting and digesting its food. Here it is more sleepy and
less easily disturbed. The eyesight of these sandpipers is
certainly very acute, as they are able to detect the presence of a
person at a long distance and give a twittering, snipey note,
otherwise regardless of approaching danger. In all their doings the
utmost harmony seems to prevail. The only object of their lives
seems to be to gather food. No sooner does the water begin to ebb
than a few of these birds will swish over some point of land with
merry twittering, eagerly scanning the bank for the least
appearance of mud now being exposed. By the time the tide has half
ebbed myriads of these birds are sweeping back and forth along the
river. As the water shallows over well known bars, and scarcely has
the water shoaled enough to permit the birds to alight without
swimming, than as many sandpipers as can collect on the place
eagerly alight and begin probing the ooze for food. The lowering
water is followed by the thronging birds to the last inch.

The flowing tide begins and the birds retreat carefully seizing
every object of food that the rising water brings to the surface.
Often they are so eager in their search that many birds are
crowded into the deeper water and save themselves only by flight.
This or that place is quickly covered over by the water and again
the birds collect into larger flocks which now sway to the right
or left, alternately, exposing their silvery white underparts
which gleam in the sunshine like a stream of silver. The gray or
brown of their backs relieving the color as the long stream of
birds pass by. They partially halt their flight and become a
compact flock, whereupon they separate into smaller flocks which,
as the water gradually rises and covers their feeding grounds, now
betake themselves to the higher lands of the banks above. Here,
around the pools on the highlands, or among the grassy margins of
the lakes, they collect to wash themselves and digest the food
they have obtained from the salt-water mud.

As a person approaches one of these pools, in the latter part of
August, little suspecting that anything will be found near them,
these birds turn their backs, which so closely resemble the lichen
covered granite as to render the birds indistinguishable. A nearer
approach and they present their white breasts which afford a
striking contrast with the surroundings. In a moment they run
together and huddle into a compact flock before they take wing. I
have, by firing at the proper moment, secured every individual
composing a flock of over a dozen birds. If they fly they take to
their wings with a sudden impulse and fly in a zigzag movement for
a few yards then swerve to right or left continuing until another
locality is reached, where they sit quietly until approached. This
is repeated every tide and, as the birds are crepuscular also in
their habits, their opportunities for becoming fat are nearly
doubled. They acquire the fat in a short time. The thickness of the
layer is often one-fourth of an inch and completely envelops the
body. The least abrasion of the skin or a shot hole soon fills the
surrounding parts with oil which has exuded from the wound, making
the preparation of skins for specimens a very difficult matter. The
flesh of these birds is peculiarly tender and richly flavored. At
times I have gone out to shoot these birds for the table and with
five discharges (of half an ounce of No. 12 shot) I secured on one
occasion 82 birds. A heavy stick thrown in among them as they wade
along the water's edge also knocks many of them over, for these
birds seem so intent on procuring food that but little heed is
given to the hunter.

William Brewster (1925) says: