Chapter XIII: Introduction (12)

Invariably among the tamest and most confiding of our so-called
shore birds, they will usually permit one to approach, either on
foot or in a boat, within 5 or 6 yards, while I have known a gun to
be discharged into a flock with fatal effect, but without causing
any of the birds which escaped injury to take wing. Like most obese
creatures they are habitually sluggish, confining their wanderings
afoot to limited areas, and exploiting these very deliberately,
walking slowly and sedately in crouching attitudes, with measured
steps, frequently stopping to thrust their bills listlessly a
little way into the soft ground, or to pick up small morsels of
food from the surface. Occasionally, however, one may see them
running to and fro over the mud quite briskly and ceaselessly,
perhaps incited to this comparatively unusual behavior by the
example of other waders feeding close about them, for they are by
no means averse to the companionship of several of the lesser
kinds, such as semipalmated plover and sandpipers, grass-birds,
dunlins, etc. Although somewhat loath to take wing, even when
threatened by obvious danger, they are likely to fly swiftly and
far, when once started, doubling and circling over the marshes in
much the same manner as other small sandpipers.

John T. Nichols, says in his notes:

When startled, a bird has been seen to crouch down concealing the
bulk of its white underparts and practically disappear against the
brightly lighted mud flat on which it had been feeding. This is a
habit shared by its close relatives the pectoral and least
sandpipers.

_Voice._--The white-rumped sandpiper is ordinarily a rather silent bird, but its short, sharp flight note is characteristic of the species and serves to distinguish it readily in the field. To me it sounds like _tzeep_ or _tzip_; Mr. Nichols calls it "a squeaky mouse-like _jeet_"; Mr. Brewster (1925) describes it as "a feeble lisping _zip_ or _tsip_, fringilline, rather than limicoline, in character"; and Doctor Townsend (1905) thinks that "it suggests at times the call note of the pipit." C. J. Maynard (1896) refers to "one cry in particular, being loudly given and greatly prolonged, resembling the scream of a rapacious bird more than the whistle of a sandpiper."

_Field marks._--The best field mark for this species is the white rump, or rather upper tail-coverts; this is conspicuous in flight but is usually concealed by the wings when the bird is on the ground. I have noticed that, while the bird is standing with its side toward me, the gray of the upper parts extend down on the sides of the neck as far as the bend of the wing, whereas in the semipalmated sandpiper, with which it might be confused, there is a decided white space in front of the wing.

Mr. Nichols says in his notes:

This bird is a size larger than least or semipalmated sandpipers,
and at favorable angles shows a diagnostic white patch crossing
above the rather dark tail. This white patch is a good example of
color which apparently functions as a recognition mark. If the same
were fortuitous one would not expect the tail to be darker than in
related species, as is the case, causing the white rump to show
more prominently. Straight bill, (or with slight decurviture at the
tip, like that of the pectoral sandpiper) and as a rule finely and
sharply streaked head and breast prevent chance of confusion with
the European curlew sandpiper, of casual occurrence on our Atlantic
coast.

_Fall._--The beginning of the fall flight is apparently southeastward from its breeding grounds west of Hudson Bay and perhaps southward from Baffin Island, where it breeds. Mr. Turner's Ungava notes give a very good idea of this first step in the migration and a good impression of the great abundance of this species; he writes:

As I proceeded farther northward I did not observe a single one of
these sandpipers until we came to anchor off the mouth of Georges
River (July 31) where quite a number were seen on the pebbly beach,
seeking their food among the rocks and shingle as the tide receded.
At this date quite a number, in fact fully three-fourths, of those
seen were birds of the year as was fully attested by traces of
downy plumage yet among the feathers of the body and especially on
the head and neck. The sizes of the flocks varied from three or
four to nearly a dozen, doubtless consisting of a single brood or,
in the case of the larger flocks, of two or more broods with their
parents. Some of the younger members of the flocks had the wing
quills not fully developed while others were considerably farther
advanced. Such a variation of plumage both in age and coloration
was exhibited that I presumed there must be two weeks difference in
the ages of the different young.

By the 10th of August all the young are well able to fly and make
protracted flights in search of food. By this date they assemble in
flocks, amounting at times, to thousands of individuals, resorting
to the mud flats left bare by the receding tide. The mouth of the
Koksoak and the cove to the westward of it present excellent tracts
of mud deposited in the little indentations. By the middle of
September these birds begin to depart to the south. Many of them
ascended the Koksoak and others doubtless followed the windings of
the coast down the Atlantic. I have seen numerous flocks over a
hundred miles from the mouth of the river as late as October 12th,
and an occasional single bird as late as the 20th of that month. I
have observed, at the mouth of the Koksoak River, flocks of these
birds often numbering over a hundred individuals suddenly appear
from high in the air. These I suspected to be birds coming from the
regions to the northward of the strait for they always came from
the sea.

Thence there is an overland flight to the Atlantic coast. Mr. Brewster (1925) says:

White-rumped sandpipers visit Lake Umbagog regularly and not
infrequently, if rather sparingly, in autumn, appearing oftenest
during the month of October. Those arriving early in the season are
mostly adult birds which occur singly or two or three together;
those coming later are of various ages and sometimes in flocks
containing as many as eight or nine members each, but rarely, if
ever, a greater number. Bonaparte's sandpipers are hardy birds.
They may be seen at the lake when its bordering marshes are stiff
with frost. Once (October 26, 1883) I found nine of them near the
mouth of Cambridge River two days after the entire region had been
covered with snow to a depth of 7 inches.

This bird is a regular, but never an abundant, migrant on the coast of Massachusetts in the fall. The vast numbers which Turner saw in Ungava must seek some other route; the species is never abundant in the interior in the fall and it seems to be rather rare on the Atlantic coast south of New England; the natural inference is that it migrates at sea from Maine or Nova Scotia directly to South America or the West Indies. It is abundant at times in Bermuda.

The adults begin to reach Cape Cod in August, but the main flight comes in September, consisting partially of young birds; most of the young birds come in October and some linger as late as November 10. While with us the white-rumped sandpiper frequents the wet meadows and marshes near the shore, as well as the sand flats, mud flats, and beaches, feeding at low tide singly or in small flocks and usually associated with pectoral, semipalmated, or least sandpipers. During high tides, while the flats are covered, this species may be seen on the high sandy beaches, mixed in with the vast flocks of small shorebirds, sleeping, or resting, or preening their plumage, while waiting for feeding time to come again; if the wind is blowing, all the birds are facing it; many are crouching on the sand and others are standing on one leg with the bill tucked under the scapulars. These flocks often contain hundreds and sometimes thousands of birds, mainly semipalmated sandpipers, semipalmated plover, and sanderlings. They are not all asleep, however, for if approached too closely, they all rise and whirl away in a vast shimmering cloud, flashing now white and now dark as they turn, and settle on the beach again at no great distance.

_Winter._--August finds the white-rumped sandpiper migrating along the coast of Brazil and it has been known to reach Cape Horn as early as September 9. Doctor Wetmore (1926) writes:

The white-rumped sandpiper was the most abundant of the migrant
shore birds in the regions visited in southern South America. The
species was not recorded until September 6, 1920, when it appeared
in abundance in southward migration on the lagoons at kilometer 80,
west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay. The first flocks from which
specimens were taken were adult females, and two taken on the date
when they were first recorded had laid eggs a few weeks previous as
was shown by the appearance of the ovaries. The southward migration
came with a rush as the birds passed through the night as witnessed
by their calls. The flight continued until September 21, when a
dozen, the last seen here, were recorded. The birds circled about
lagoons in small compact flocks or walked along on muddy shores,
where they fed with head down, probing rapidly in the soft mud;
anything edible encountered was seized and swallowed and the bird
continued without delay in its search for more.

Farther south this species was encountered in abundance in its
winter range on the pampa. Ten were recorded at Dolores, Buenos
Aires, October 21, and from October 22 to November 15 the species
was found in numbers on the coastal mud flats on the Bay of
Samborombom. A few were seen at pools of water in the sand dunes
below Cape San Antonio. Along the Rio Ajo white-rumped sandpipers
were encountered in flocks of hundreds that came upstream to
search the mud flats at low tide or were concentrated on bars at
the mouth when the water was high. In early morning there was a
steady flight of them passing to suitable feeding grounds. The
birds flew swiftly, with soft notes, from 3 to 15 feet from the
earth. In feeding they scattered out in little groups that covered
the bare mud systematically. It was not unusual to record as many
as 2,000 in a day. About two hundred were observed in the bay at
Ingeniero White, the port of Bahia Blanca, on December 13, and at
Carhue, Buenos Aires, from December 16 to 18, white-rumped
sandpipers were noted in fair numbers on inundated ground back of
the shore of Lake Epiquen or about fresh-water ponds on the pampa
inland. None were found in Uruguay during February.

Ernest Gibson (1920) says of this species, at Cape San Antonio, Buenos Aires:

This is certainly our commonest wader, and is found everywhere in
flocks, from, say, the end of October to the middle or end of
March. The number in these gatherings is only restricted by the
area of the feeding ground; hence, when large mud flats are
available in the vicinity of our fresh or salt water lagunas and
cangrejales, or at the subsidence of a flood, the flocks are
sometimes of enormous size. The observer may see many acres of
ground which look to be in continuous movement, the surface being
alive with the restless throng of sandpipers running about and
chasing each other, feeding, or taking constant short flights.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--North and South America; casual in Europe.

_Breeding range._--Although the white-rumped sandpiper has been noted in summer from Wainwright, Alaska, east to southern Greenland (Julianshaab), the only places where eggs have been taken are Point Barrow, Alaska; Herschel Island, Yukon; Taylor Island, Victoria Land; Fort Anderson and Rendezvous Lake, Mackenzie; and the southeast shore of Lake Nettilling, Baffin Island.

_Winter range._--North to Paraguay (Rio Pilcomayo and Rio Parana); and Uruguay (Montevideo). East to Uruguay (Montevideo); Argentina (La Plata, Cape San Antonio, Bahia Blanca, Rio Chubut, and Puerto San Julian); the Falkland Islands; and Tierra del Fuego. South to Tierra Fuego; and southern Chile (Straits of Magellan). West to Chile (Straits of Magellan and Santiago); and Paraguay (Rio Pilcomayo).

_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida, De Funiak Springs, May 12; Georgia, Savannah, May 17; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, May 7, Frogmore, May 7, and Charleston, May 16; North Carolina, Cape Hatteras, May 2, Churchs Island, May 6, and Pea and Brodie Islands, May 15; Virginia, Smith's Island, May 14; District of Columbia, Washington, May 11; New Jersey, Long Beach, May 9, Trenton, May 12, and Bernardsville, May 14; New York, Mastic, May 11, Canandaigua, May 19, Rockaway Beach, May 21, and Freeport, May 22; Connecticut, Middletown, May 10, and New Haven, May 19; Rhode Island, Block Island, May 16; Massachusetts, Melrose, May 9, and Harvard, May 20; Vermont, Woodstock, May 14, Brattleboro, May 18, and Rutland, May 19; Maine, Scarboro, May 29; Quebec, Godbout, May 24, and Quebec City, May 27; Louisiana, Lobdell, May 14; Kentucky, Bowling Green, April 27; Missouri, Jacks Fork, May 15, and Sand Ridge, May 16; Illinois, De Kalb, May 8, and Elgin, May 11; Ohio, Canton, May 8, Berlin Center, May 11, and Youngstown, May 17; Michigan, Detroit, May 6; Ontario, Toronto, May 26; Iowa, Marshalltown, May 4, and Sioux City, May 7; Wisconsin, Whitewater, April 28; Minnesota, Wilder, May 5, Jackson, May 13, and Heron Lake, May 19; Texas, Brownsville, April 11, and Ingram, May 8; Kansas, Emporia, May 4, Lawrence, May 5, and Topeka, May 7; Nebraska, Neligh, May 1, and Peru, May 13; South Dakota, Sioux Falls, May 5, and Vermilion, May 9; Manitoba, Whitewater Lake, May 12; Saskatchewan, Ravenscrag, May 13; and Mackenzie, Fort Resolution, May 19, and Fort Simpson, May 26.

Late dates of spring departure from the wintering grounds are: Argentina, French Bay, March 7, and Guamini, March 8. In North America, late dates are: South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, May 30, and Frogmore, May 31; North Carolina, Raleigh, May 24, and Lake Ellis, June 15; Virginia, Smith's Island, June 7; Delaware, Lewes, June 8; Pennsylvania, Erie, June 4; New Jersey, Bernardsville, May 24, and Camden, May 24; New York, Castleton, June 2, and Long Beach, June 20; Massachusetts, Harvard, June 4; Illinois, Waukegan, June 9; Ohio, Painesville, June 14, and Lakeside, June 25; Ontario, Toronto, June 21; Iowa, Sioux City, May 30, and Keokuk, June 5; Wisconsin, Madison, May 30; Minnesota, Hallock, June 8; Texas, Lomita, May 22, and Gainesville, May 24; Kansas, Fort Riley, May 22 and Stafford County, June 6; Nebraska, Lincoln, May 20, Republican Fork, May 25, and Valentine, May 25; South Dakota, Forestburg, May 27, and Vermilion, June 5; North Dakota, Charlson, June 1; Manitoba, Reaburn, June 6, Duck Mountain, June 8, and Shoal Lake, June 20; and Saskatchewan, Kutanajan Lake, June 9, and Quill Lake, June 10.

_Fall migration._--Early fall arrivals are: Saskatchewan, Indian Head, July 1; Texas, Tivoli, August 17; Minnesota, St. Vincent, August 4; Wisconsin, Lake Koshkonong, August 1; Iowa, Marshalltown, August 19, and Keokuk, August 21; Ontario, Toronto, August 23; Michigan, Lansing, July 29; Massachusetts, Marthas Vineyard, July 16, and Ipswich, July 24; Rhode Island, Providence, July 18, and Block Island, July 27; New York, Orient, July 24; New Jersey, Long Beach, July 7; Pennsylvania, Erie, August 29; Florida, Palma Sola, August 27; Paraguay, near Puerto Pinasco, September 6; and Patagonia, Orange Bay, September 9.

Late departures in the fall are: Mackenzie, Slave River, October 1; Saskatchewan, Eastend, September 12; Manitoba, Shoal Lake, September 21; Minnesota, Hallock, October 16; Iowa, Marshalltown, November 7; Ontario, Toronto, November 2, and Ottawa, November 5; Ohio, Columbus, October 28, and North Lima, October 29; Ungava, Koksoak River, October 20; Baffin Island, Pangnirtung Fiord, September 25; Labrador, Battle Harbor, October 29; and Quebec, Montreal, October 31; Maine, Lake Umbagog, October 14, and Bangor, October 23; Massachusetts, Lynn, October 12, Boston, October 22, Harvard, October 24, and Cape Cod, November 10; Connecticut, Branford, October 23, and East Hartford, October 30; New York, Ithaca, October 16, Quogue, October 30, Shinnecock Bay, October 30, Oneida Lake, November 3, and Canandaigua, November 4; Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, October 10, and Erie, October 29; District of Columbia, Anacostia, October 24; Virginia, Lake Drummond, November 5; Ohio, Columbus, November 15; North Carolina, Church's Island, October 7, and Raleigh, December 7; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, October 17, and Frogmore, October 24; Georgia, Savannah, October 9; and Florida, St. Augustine, December 2.

_Casual records._--Although probably on the migrational highway, records of the white-rumped sandpiper in Central America, the West Indies, and Lesser Antilles are so few that in these places it can only be considered as a casual visitor. Specimens are in the British Museum from Lion Hill, Panama; Momotombo, Nicaragua; and Tizimin and Cozumel Island, Mexico. It also has been observed or taken on the islands of Barbados (September 20 and 22, year?); Dominica (November 5, 1904); St. Lucia; Guadeloupe; Martinique; Trinidad; Porto Rico (Mayaguez, October 2, 1900, and Culebrita, April 15, 1912); Cuba; the Bahamas (Inagua, May 27, 1879, and Fortune Island, August 5, 1876); and the Bermuda Islands. Examples were reported from the Yellowstone River, Montana, August 8 to 13, 1878; it has been taken at Laramie, Wyo.; in New Mexico (Fort Fillmore, October, 1852, and Zuni Mountains, September 16, 1851); and there are several records for eastern Colorado. The specimen reported from Oakland, Calif., was probably the Pectoral sandpiper, _P. maculata_. One was taken at Hopedale, Labrador.

White-rumped sandpipers have been reported in the British Isles fourteen or fifteen times and a specimen was taken in Franz Josef Land on June 28 (year unknown, but prior to 1898).

_Egg dates._--Arctic Canada: 14 records, June 15 to July 24; 7 records, June 30 to July 12. Alaska: 2 records, June 25.

PISOBIA BAIRDI (Coues)

BAIRD SANDPIPER

HABITS

_Spring._--This sandpiper belongs to that class of birds which Abel Chapman (1924) so aptly terms "globe spanners," for on its migrations its traverses the whole length of both American continents twice a year. From its wintering grounds in Patagonia it must start north even earlier than the preceding species or else it must travel faster. Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1926) observed it migrating past Buenos Aires on March 5 in company with white-rumped sandpipers, and it has been known to reach Texas early in March. From there its course seems to be northward between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. A.G. Lawrence tells me that it passes through Manitoba between April 28 and May 29; and J.A. Munro gives me, as his spring dates for southern British Columbia, April 30 to May 10. Prof. William Rowan (Mss.) calls it extremely abundant in Alberta about the middle of May and usually gone by the 24th. It is very rare east of the Mississippi in the spring. E.A. Preble (1908) saw large flocks foraging on floating ice at Lake Athabaska on May 25. Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) records it at the Kowak River, Alaska, on May 20. Joseph Dixon (1917) says:

On May 31, 1914, at Griffin Point, Arctic Alaska, the first pair of
Baird sandpipers for the season were noted feeding along the rim of
a frozen tundra pond. The weather had turned bitterly cold during
the previous night, and as a result the newly formed ice on the
ponds was thick enough to support a man. Strictly speaking, there
was no night at this date, for the two months of continuous
daylight had already begun; so in a short time the sandpipers were
bustling about picking up the mosquito and other pupae which were
being washed out by a newly-born stream that gurgled under the snow
and ice on its way down to the frozen lagoon.

_Courtship._--Two somewhat different accounts of the courtship of this species have been published. W. Sprague Brooks (1915), who found this bird breeding at Demarcation Point, Alaska, writes:

Only once did I note any courtship activity. On this occasion (May
24), the male would fly a few feet above the female, while she
rested on the ground, with quick erratic wing strokes suggesting a
nighthawk. Frequently he would alight and raise the wings high over
the back as a gull does before folding them. Then with the forearms
perpendicular, the primaries would be slowly raised and lowered
like a pump handle, generally lowered to right angles with the
forearms, sometimes lower. Not a sound was uttered.

Alfred M. Bailey (1926), whose observations were made at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, says:

Cutting down the opposite side of the ridge, I heard many calls
which reminded me of home in the early spring, for the combined
totals sounded like the singing of many little grass frogs in a
meadow pond. It was the call, or rather the "spring song," of the
Baird sandpiper. I soon flushed a little female, which fluttered
away uttering cries of alarm. I concealed myself, and she soon
returned, the male also hovering about, making his little froglike
peep. At times he would rise high in the air, in the way so
characteristic of male sandpipers, give forth his song, and sail
down to perch.

_Nesting._--MacFarlane's notes mention seven nests found in the vicinity of Franklin Bay, but very few data were given; "on June 24, 1864, a nest containing four eggs was found in the Barren Grounds, in a swampy tract between two small lakes, and was composed of a few decayed leaves placed in a small cavity or depression in the ground, shaded by a tuft of grass." John Murdoch (1885) says:

The nest was always well hidden in the grass and never placed in
marshy ground or on the bare black parts of tundra, and consists
merely of a slight depression in the ground, thinly lined with
dried grass. All the eggs we found were obtained from the last week
in June to the first week of July, a trifle later than the other
waders. The sitting female when disturbed exhibits the greatest
solicitude, running about with drooping, outspread wings, and loud
outcry, and uses every possible wile to attract the intruder from
the eggs. The nest is so well concealed and forms so inconspicuous
an object that the only practical way to secure the eggs is to
withdraw to one side and allow the sitting bird to return,
carefully marking where she alights. Having done this on one
occasion and failing to find the eggs, after flushing the bird two
or three times I discovered that I had walked on the eggs, though I
had been looking for them most carefully.

Mr. Brooks (1915) writes:

Two nests were found, each containing four eggs and about one
quarter incubated on June 12 and 14, 1914. Murdoch found them
nesting rather later than other waders at Point Barrow, but my
experience at Demarcation Point was quite the opposite, for here
they were the first to breed. A female taken June 2, had a fully
formed and colored egg about ready to lay. Both of the above nests
were on dry, well-drained tundra near the bases of knolls. The
nests were like the other sandpipers, and lined with dry willow
leaves, but the cavities were less deep than those of the
semipalmated sandpiper.

The female was on one nest and the male on the other. The former
left the nest when I was some distance away and flying directly
toward me alighted within a few feet. While I was at the nest she
walked hurriedly about close by constantly uttering a plaintive
_weet-weet-weet_ always repeated three times. Occasionally she
would take a short flight about me and utter a note very similar
to the rattling call of the pectoral sandpiper. The male when
disturbed acted quite differently. He sat closer and on leaving
the nest showed the greatest concern, dragging a "broken" wing in
the most distressing manner. In neither case was the mate about as
frequently occurs with the semipalmated sandpiper.

Mr. Dixon (1917) says:

At Griffin Point, less than 50 miles to the eastward of Demarcation
Point, the first set of eggs (fresh) was taken on June 24. The last
set was found July 11, with the four eggs nearly ready to hatch.
Murdoch speaks of the nests being well concealed and always hidden
in the grass. In those nests which we found, no attempt had been
made at such concealment, as they were placed absolutely in the
open, with nothing to cover or conceal the eggs at all, and the
nests so shallow that the tops of the eggs were almost or quite
level with the surrounding grass. Far from being conspicuously
exposed thereby, however, the eggs were shielded from discovery in
the most effective manner possible, for in color and markings they
blended so perfectly with the brown tundra that a person could
easily look directly at them from a distance of 6 feet and still
not be able to see them.

This method of nesting seems to be the most effective way of
escaping one great danger at least, namely, the notice of the
countless jaegers, both parasitic and pomarine. These robbers
subsist almost entirely during the breeding period on the young
and eggs of other birds, and cruise continually back and forth
over the sandpipers' nesting ground, looking for the least
telltale feather, bit of wind-blown down, or other object which
might afford a clue to the whereabouts of a nest.

Herbert W. Brandt found only one nest of the Baird sandpiper near Hooper Bay, Alaska, which he tells me--

Was on a dry mossy ridge amid the dunes and was partially concealed
by the surrounding curly grass. It was flimsily constructed of
grass stems and filled with a scant handful of small leaves of the
dwarf birch and blueberry, together with a few adjacent
reindeer-moss stems. The measurements of this nest were: Inside
diameter 2-1/2 inches, and depth perhaps 2 inches.

_Eggs._--The Baird sandpiper lays ordinarily four eggs, occasionally only three. These vary in shape from ovate or ovate pyriform to subovate, and they have a slight gloss. In color they often resemble certain types of western sandpipers' eggs, as they are usually of a decidedly reddish tone; but they are considerably larger. The ground color varies from "pinkish buff" to "pale pinkish buff" or from "olive buff" to "cartridge buff." Three quite different types are represented in my collection. In the western sandpiper type the "pinkish buff" ground color is quite evenly covered over the whole egg with small, elongated spots, somewhat thicker at the larger end and having a spiral tendency, of "Hay's russet" and "chestnut brown," with a few underlying spots of "brownish drab." Another set has a "cartridge buff" ground color, which is unevenly covered, chiefly at the larger end, with small spots of duller browns, "bister," "Saccardo's umber," and light shades of "brownish drab." This seems to be the commonest type. An unusually beautiful set has a "pinkish buff" ground color, sparingly sprinkled with minute brown dots and boldly blotched with great, irregular splashes of deep, rich browns, "chestnut," "chocolate," and "liver brown," overlying large splashes of various shades of "vinaceous gray." The measurements of 54 eggs average 33.1 by 23.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =33.5= by 24.4, 34.3 by =24.6= and =30= by =22= millimeters.

_Young._--Incubation is shared by both sexes, but we have no data as to its duration. Mr. Dixon (1917) found the male bird covering the eggs more often than the female, and others have reported finding the male caring for the young. Mr. Dixon (1917) says of the young:

The young sandpipers were found feeding in the shallower pools,
where the water was less than 1 inch deep. At times as many as five
were noted in an area 1 yard square. They congregated along the
water's edge, picking up, as the tide slowly receded, many bits of
food. The nature of this provender I could not make out, although
the young birds would often come within 20 feet of me when I
remained motionless for a few minutes. The old birds were much more
shy, often taking flight or retreating to distant gravel bars upon
my approach. Considerable time was spent by both young and old in
making short flights about the harbor. These flights alternated
with periods of food getting, and were seemingly in preparation for
the fall migration. It was only a few days then until the bulk of
the species left on their southward journey.

_Plumages._--The downy young Baird sandpiper is well colored to escape detection on the brown tundra moss. The crown and upper parts are variegated with black and "tawny" in an irregular pattern and dotted with white terminal tufts; the crown is centrally "tawny," with a median black stripe, and is bordered with black; the forehead, back to eyes, sides of the head and all under parts are pure white; there is a black spot in the center of the forehead, a black stripe from the bill, through the eye, to the occiput and another below it and parallel to it; there is a white superciliary stripe and some white mottling on the back of the head and neck.

The juvenal plumage is equally concealing. The crown is sepia with buffy edgings; the back and scapulars are dark sepia with broad white edgings; the wing is like the adult except that the coverts and tertials are edged with "pinkish buff" and tipped with white; the under parts are like the adult but the breast is more pinkish buff and more faintly streaked. A partial postjuvenal molt, including most of the body plumage and some of the scapulars, wing coverts, and tertials and takes place in October or later. I have seen birds in full juvenal plumage as late as October 3; young birds migrate in this plumage. At the first prenuptial molt the following spring young birds become indistinguishable from adults.

Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in April and May, including only part of the body plumage. The postnuptial molt begins in July, when the body plumage is molted before the birds migrate; the wings are molted after the birds reach their winter home, from December to February, not long before they started to migrate north again. I have seen birds in full nuptial plumage as early as May 1 and as late as July 29, and in full winter plumage as late as April 5. The adult nuptial and winter plumages are somewhat different; the colors are brighter and richer in the spring and the markings are more distinct; in the fall the upper parts are nearly uniformly buffy brownish with dusky shaft streaks; the chest and sides of the breast are dull brownish buff and not distinctly streaked.

_Food._--Preble and McAtee (1923) found in the stomachs of three Baird sandpipers, taken on the Pribilof Islands, amphipods, algae, ground beetles, and a weevil. Mr. McAtee (1911) includes this species among those that eat mosquito larvae, crane-fly larvae, grasshoppers, and the clover-root curculio, all injurious insects. It feeds on the open mud flats with other species of sandpipers, but seems to prefer to feed about the edges of the shallow inland pools or where the muddy flats are partially overgrown with grass. William Brewster (1925) watched some of them feeding, of which he says:

On first noticing me draw near they stood erect, with upstretched
necks, regarding me intently and distrustfully, but their feeding
operations were resumed soon after I ceased to advance. By
successive runs, 8 or 10 feet in length and often executed very
swiftly, they moved about quickly in various directions over soft
mud or through shallow water, frequently stooping to pick up small
morsels of food, but not once using their bills for probing under
ground or water.

_Voice._--Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) says that the note, which he heard several times, seemed to him "exactly like that of the semipalmated sandpiper, a rather shrill, trilling whistle." Mr. Brewster (1925) says that--

the _kreep_ call they utter in flight is sufficiently unlike that
of any other wader of similar size and general coloring to be of
service as a means of field identification when the birds are seen
on wing. It is appreciably different from the call of any other
sandpiper known to me, although not so very unlike that of the
sanderling.

_Field marks._--The Baird sandpiper is one of the most difficult of all this group to recognize in the field, because it has no prominent distinguishing field marks peculiar to itself. It has characters in common with any one of several small sandpipers. In color and general appearance it is most like the least sandpiper; it is decidedly larger, but size is of little value unless the two are side by side for comparison; it is lighter colored above, more extensively buffy on the breast, and has darker legs. It is a size larger than the semipalmated and western sandpipers, more buffy on the breast than either, and has a shorter bill in proportion to its size than the latter. It is about the size of the white-rumped sandpiper, but is less distinctly streaked on the crown and back; the buff breast of the Baird will distinguish it when standing or even in flight; and the white rump of _fuscicollis_ is a sure flight mark when visible. From the red-backed sandpiper, about the same size, it can be distinguished by its shorter and straighter bill and by marked color differences. It might be mistaken for a female pectoral, but the latter is more conspicuously striped above, more like a snipe in this respect, the crown is darker, more contrasted, and the breast is darker, more abruptly separated from the white belly, and more sharply streaked with dusky; when flying the pectoral shows more white in the wings. The Baird is but slightly smaller than the buff-breasted sandpiper and very much like it; but Prof. William Rowan (MSS.) has pointed out some differences. The patterns of the backs are very similar, but the buff breasted has a much paler crown and lacks the white throat and eye stripe, as well as the clear-cut white sides and black center of the rump of the Baird. The buff breasted has yellow legs and the Baird has black. The Baird shows no white in the wings in flight. Young Bairds in juvenal plumage are easily recognized by the scaled appearance of the mantle produced by dark feathers with broad white edges.

_Fall._--Baird sandpipers leave their northern breeding grounds rather early. Mr. Murdoch (1885) reported the last one seen at Point Barrow on August 12, and Mr. Dixon (1917) saw none after August 15 in northern Alaska. E. A. Preble (1908) saw several flocks on migration at Great Slave Lake as early as July 10.

The main flight seems to be directly south through the Mackenzie Valley and between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River to Mexico and South America, where it probably migrates down the west coast to its winter home. But the route is also extended both east and west in the fall. Some birds fly southeastward, through the Great Lakes, to the coast of New England, whence they apparently migrate over the ocean to South America. Others migrate southward through the extreme western States.

Mr. Brewster (1925) says that they "visit Lake Umbagog (Maine) early in September, appearing oftenest during the first week in the month." My Massachusetts dates run from August 7 to September 15. E. W. Hadeler records it in his Ohio notes from September 2 to October 11; and Edward S. Thomas has seen it there as early as August 12. It is an abundant migrant in Manitoba; we collected adults there on July 29; and C. G. Harrold tells me that birds passing through in August and September are practically all juveniles. Professor Rowan refers to it as probably the most plentiful wader in Alberta in the first half of September; he has taken it there as late as November 8. J. A. Munro calls it a regular fall migrant at Okanagan Landing, British Columbia; his earliest and latest dates are July 16 and September 18. J. H. Bowles (1918) observed it on the Tacoma Flats, Washington, from July 26 to September 5, and says:

They were found in singles, pairs, or trios, most often associating
with the semipalmated plover (_Aegialitis semipalmata_) when any
were to be found. When flying with a company of the other small
sandpipers they would separate as soon as the flock alighted to
feed, the Baird's going to comparatively dry ground for their food
while the others waded about in the water and at the water's edge.
They could not have been called common, but from one to three or
four were to be found on almost any day.

John T. Nichols has observed Baird sandpipers on the Pacific Ocean and writes to me as follows:

August 6, 1926, 52° 19' N., 137° 42' W., three to six birds of this
species came about a ship bound southeast for Seattle, flying with
and parallel to her course. One, apparently misjudging her speed,
was killed by striking the rigging forward. Perhaps the Baird
sandpiper is comparatively scarce on the Pacific coast due to an
offshore migration route.

_Winter._--According to Prof. Wells W. Cooke (1912) this sandpiper reaches its winter home in September. Chile seems to be its principal winter home, where it has been taken repeatedly in the high mountains at 10,000 to 12,000 feet and once at over 13,000.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Northeastern Asia and North and South America; accidental in England.

_Breeding range._--North to the northeastern coast of Siberia (probably Koliutschin Island and Cape Serdze Kamen); northern Alaska (Wainwright, Point Barrow, Camden Bay, Barter Island, and Demarcation Point); Yukon (Herschel Island); Mackenzie (Franklin Bay, Baillie Island, and Cambridge Bay); and southern Baffin Island. East to Baffin Island and probably Greenland (Etah). South to Mackenzie (Cambridge Bay, Bernard Harbor, Fort Anderson, and Peel River); and Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales and Point Dall). West to Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales and Point Dall); and northeastern Siberia (probably Koliutschin Island).

_Winter range._--North to Chile (Tarapaca); and Argentina (Tucuman, Cordoba, and Buenos Aires). East to Argentina (Buenos Aires). South to Argentina (Buenos Aires); and Chile (Talcahuano). West to Chile (Talcahuano, Huasco, and Tarapaca).

_Spring migration._--In spring the Baird sandpiper is practically unknown on the Atlantic coast, the route being up the Mississippi Valley, the plains States, and (to a lesser degree) the Pacific coast. Early dates of arrival are: Missouri, Monteer, March 20, and near Boonville, April 16; Ohio, Painesville, April 25, Oberlin, April 28, and Cleveland, May 8; Michigan, Vicksburg, April 15; Iowa, Sioux City, April 9, Mason City, April 19, and Marshalltown, April 25; Minnesota, Waseca, May 10, and Hutchinson, May 18; Texas, Boerne, March 16, and Electra, April 9; Kansas, Emporia, March 27; Nebraska, Gibbon, March 19, Lincoln, March 23, and Callaway, April 7; South Dakota, Forestburg, April 6, and Brown County, April 18; North Dakota, Jamestown, May 1, and Charlson, May 4; Saskatchewan, Indian Head, May 9, and Orestwynd, May 10; Mackenzie, Fort Resolution, May 19, Fort Simpson, May 20, and Fort Providence, May 26; Arizona, Fort Verde, May 5; Colorado, Loveland, March 29; Wyoming, Cheyenne, April 8, and Laramie, April 23; Montana, Knowlton, May 12, and Bitterroot Valley, May 18; Alberta, Flagstaff, April 16, Alliance, April 24, and Fort Chipewyan, May 24; California, Santa Barbara, April 27; Washington, Dayton, April 11; British Columbia, Chilliwack, April 29, and Okanagan Landing, April 30; and Alaska, Admiralty Island, May 12, Kowak River, May 20, Demarcation Point, May 23, Nulato, May 27, Cape Prince of Wales, May 28, and Point Barrow, May 29.

Late dates of spring departure are: Mexico, city of Mexico, May 19; Guerrero, Iguala, June 1; Ohio, Youngstown, June 2; Michigan, Detroit, May 24; Iowa, Sioux City, June 6; Texas, San Angelo, May 15, and Ingram, May 26; Kansas, Wichita, May 20; Nebraska, Neligh, May 26, and Valentine, May 30; South Dakota, Vermilion, May 24, and Sioux Falls, June 11; North Dakota, Charlson, May 22, and Jamestown, June 4; Saskatchewan, Indian Head, June 2, and Quill Lake, June 16; Wyoming, Yellowstone Park, June 3; Alberta, Fort Chipewyan, June 1; and British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, May 10, Vaseaux Lake, May 18, and Sumas, May 19.

_Fall migration._--Early dates of fall arrival are: British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, July 7; Washington, Wrights Peak, July 21, Blaine, August 4, and Tacoma, August 6; California, Santa Barbara, July 25; Lower California, San Jose del Cabo, September 3; Alberta, Strathmore, July 31; Wyoming, Toltec, July 27; Colorado, Denver, July 21, Boulder County, July 27, and El Paso County, July 29; Saskatchewan, Maple Creek, July 17; Manitoba, Oak Lake, July 12, and Red Deer River, July 23; South Dakota, Forestburg, July 25; Nebraska, Callaway, August 4, and Lincoln, August 9; Texas, San Angelo, July 20; Ontario, Toronto, July 28; Michigan, Charity Island, July 9; Ohio, Bay Point, July 3; Illinois, Chicago, July 2; Massachusetts, Monomoy Island, July 14; New York, Montauk, August 14, Locust Grove, August 18, Onondaga Lake, August 27; Pennsylvania, Beaver, August 21, Erie, August 22; Mexico, Zacatecas, August 16, Colonia Garcia, September 4, and Janos River, September 5; and Patagonia, Arroyo Seco, Rio Negro, September 6, and Huanuluan, September 12.

Late dates of fall departures are: Alaska, Point Barrow, September 4; British Columbia, Comox, September 15, and Okanagan Landing, October 18; Washington, Tacoma, September 27; Oregon, Netarts Bay, September 12; California, Monterey, October 24; Colorado, Boulder County, September 25, and Barr, October 5; Saskatchewan, Indian Head, September 21; Manitoba, Oak Lake, September 5, and Shoal Lake, September 14; North Dakota, Charlson, September 21; Nebraska, Valentine, October 10, and Lincoln, November 3; Kansas, Lawrence, October 26; Texas, Tom Green and Concho Counties, October 20; Iowa, Burlington, October 2, and Keokuk, October 14; Ontario, St. Thomas, October 3, Toronto, October 10, and Plover Mills, October 20; Ohio, Painesville, October 11, and New Bremen, October 28; Illinois, Chicago, October 2; Missouri, Independence, October 13; Maine, Warren Island, September 20, and Bangor, November 1; Massachusetts, Cambridge, October 30; Connecticut, West Haven, October 28, and Stratford, November 3; New York, Shinnecock Bay, October 31, and Canandaigua, November 20; and Pennsylvania, Erie, October 6.

_Casual records._--The Baird sandpiper has several times been taken or observed in various parts of Mexico so that it seems reasonable to believe that at least a part of the birds migrate over that country. In other Central American countries and in the West Indies it is rare. Among the records are: Costa Rica (Cerro de la Candelaria, October 1900, Volcano Irazu, June 8, 1894, La Estrella de Cartago, November 5, 1907, and San Jose, September 18); and Cuba (Cocos Island). It also has been detected on the Galapagos Islands (Barrington Island, October 6, 1897); Lesser Antilles (Dominica, October 1, 1904); Virginia (Four-mile Run, September 3 and 25, 1894); New Jersey (Stone Harbor, September 5, 1898); Quebec (Montreal, September 17, 1892); New Brunswick (St. Andrews, September 10, 1901); and England (Rye Harbor, Sussex, November 11, 1900).

_Egg dates._--Alaska: 27 records, June 9 to August 24; 14 records, June 19 to July 2. Arctic Canada: 20 records, June 10 to July 21; 10 records, June 19 to 26.

PISOBIA MINUTILLA (Vieillot)

LEAST SANDPIPER

HABITS

_Contributed by Charles Wendell Townsend_

This least of all our sandpipers is so little smaller than the semipalmated sandpiper and differs so slightly from it in other ways that the two are generally confused in life. Their small size, and their notes have given them the familiar name of "peep," but near New York they are also called "oxeye." Who has not been gladdened by the sight of flocks of these gentle little birds scampering along the beach or diligently feeding in the tidal flats and in the salt marshes!

_Spring._--The duration of the spring migration is much more brief than that of the autumnal one. The birds are hastening to their breeding grounds and the least sandpiper is only a month in passing through. In New England this is from about May 5 to June 7. At this time the birds are more apt to be found on the beaches than in the fall, although they are found in greatest abundance in the marshes.

_Courtship._--The most noticeable part of the courtship of the least sandpiper is the song. I have observed it on the breeding grounds in Nova Scotia and in Labrador, as well as during the spring migration in New England. The bird springs up into the air on quivering, down-curved wings and circles about, now lower, now higher, reaching at times a height of 50 or more yards. In the air it emits a short sweet trill which is rapidly repeated, and with each song burst the wings are rapidly vibrated. On one occasion in Labrador the bird remained in the air circling and repeatedly trilling for five minutes by the watch, and continued to trill after it had reached the ground. Immediately it was up again, trilling, and, as I left the bog, it followed me, still trilling.

This courtship song has been described at great length and with much appreciation by Robert T. Moore (1912) from intimate studies made by him on five nesting birds in the Magdalen Islands, and he has recorded these songs in musical notation. He ranks it high among bird songs and dwells on its tremulous and pathetic qualities. He observed one that rendered its entire song from the ground within a foot of his hand. "It consisted of a series of trills, which ascended just one octave on a minor chord. The tone quality was pure and sweet and rendered pathetic by the minor chord, which served as its medium." He says of the records he made of the flight songs of three birds that--

Each in its notes, progressions, and even time is totally different
from the others, yet, without sight of the bird, I would instantly
recognize them as songs of the least sandpiper. This is due to the
fact that the quality of tone is constant in all, being pure and
sweet, the tempo is aways extremely fast, the notes being delivered
with great rapidity, and the pitch high. Trills and runs are
characteristic and make an additional recognition quality.

All these observations were made on birds that were both incubating and singing. On one occasion only did he see two birds together.

This flight song piped overhead and was sung over and over again
with a tremulous zest. Alternating with it, was repeated for long
intervals an excited call of two notes. We glanced up and for the
first time beheld two adult least sandpipers together. Alternately
they flapped and soared and circled about in rapturous fashion. For
several minutes the alternation of song and call continued without
break of any kind. Sometimes the song was given three times
consecutively and followed by as many as 30 or 40 repetitions of
the call, this in turn to be followed by the song again.

W.E. Saunders (1902) has recorded the courtship as observed by him at Sable Island. He was there between May 16 and 23, too early for nesting. He says: "I found them invariably in pairs, evidently mated, and often sitting so close together that two could be obtained at a single shot if desired." To his ear the song notes resembled somewhat those of the spotted sandpiper. He says of the courtship flight:

Sometimes both birds would be in the air at once, but whether the
female gave the note as well as the male, I could not definitely
ascertain without shooting the birds, which I was very loath to do.
The note would be given continuously for perhaps three or four
minutes, during which time the bird flies slowly with steady
flapping of the wings, mounting in the air gradually until, when
watching them in the evening, one loses sight of them in the gloom.

_Nesting._--The least sandpiper makes its nest either in wet grassy or sphagnum bogs close to a pond or tidal water; or on dry uplands, often among low bushes. In either case the nest is a simple affair. P.B. Philipp (1925) describes its method of construction as observed by him in the Magdalen Islands:

The bird picks out a spot in the wet moss of a bog or in the dry
leaves of a ridge, and scratches a shallow hollow in which it sits,
and, by rapidly turning, molds a depression of the required depth.
Which of the pair does this I have never determined, but the other
bird is usually present, standing close to the nest-builder and
offering encouragement by a low, rapid twittering.

The nest depression in the moss is generally lined with dry leaves, although these may be very few in number, and a little dried grass. The internal dimensions of the nest as given by Audubon (1840) are: Diameter, 2-1/2 inches; depth, 1-1/4 inches.

J. R. Whitaker writes, in his notes on these birds at Grand Lake, Newfoundland, that the nest is nearly always amongst a labyrinth of pools of water, and is usually on the side or the top of a hummock of sphagnum moss, but I have found them on flat ground amongst reindeer moss. When on a moss hummock, the scratch is about 2 inches deep and there is always an inch or so of material in the bottom usually composed of cranberry leaves and short bits of cotton grass stems.

_Eggs._--[_Author's note_: Four eggs is the rule with the least sandpiper. They vary in shape from ovate pyriform (the usual shape) to subpyriform, and they have only a slight gloss. The ground colors vary from "deep olive buff" to "pale olive buff," or from "pale pinkish buff" to "cartridge buff." There are two extreme types of markings, the boldly blotched and the finely sprinkled type, with many intergradations between them. Some eggs are more or less evenly covered, usually more thickly about the larger end, with a mixture of dots, small spots, and small, irregular blotches. In some the blotches are larger, more elongated, often spirally arranged and often confluent at the larger end. In still others the whole egg is evenly covered with very fine dots and small markings. There are two sets from Labrador of the latter type in my collection; one has a pinkish ground color, covered uniformly with a fine sprinkling of reddish brown markings, exactly like certain eggs of the western sandpiper; the other set is similarly marked, but the ground color is "olive buff" and the markings are in darker browns. At the other end of the range of variation I have a particularly handsome egg, which has an "olive buff" ground color, with a few large splashes of "vinaceous drab," overlaid, chiefly around the larger end, with a few great splashes of "liver brown," "chestnut brown," and "bone brown." The ordinary markings are in various shades of dark, rich browns, "bay," "liver brown," "chestnut," and "hazel," deepening to blackish brown where the pigment is thickest. The underlying spots are in pale shades of "vinaceous drab." The measurements of 65 eggs in the United States National Museum average 29 by 21 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =31= by 21, 30 by =22=, 26.5 by =20=, and 28 by =19= millimeters.]

_Young._--Incubation is believed to be performed largely by the male. Mr. Philipp (1925):

Collected four birds from the nests and all proved to be males on
dissection. Also a bird which was accidentally stepped on while it
was shielding four young or "downies" was a male. In fact, after
the eggs are laid both birds are seldom seen around the nest. The
incubating bird is most solicitous about its nest. It sits very
closely and, when flushed, half runs, half flutters for a few feet
as if trying to lead the intruder away. If you are not deceived by
these actions but remain quiet, the bird soon returns and walks
daintily about, uttering a quickly repeated _peep, peep, peep_,
often with such vehemence that the saliva fairly runs from its
bill.

Mr. Moore (1912), however, shot a bird which he thought was both incubating and singing, and it proved to be a female.

Sometimes both parents show solicitude for the young as in the following case in the Yukon region, reported by Dr. Louis B. Bishop (1900):

I came upon a female surrounded by four downy young. Both parents
tried time and again the well known wounded-bird tactics to lure me
from the spot where the young were hidden in the bunches of grass,
and finding this a failure, would circle around me only a few yards
off, uttering a plaintive twitter.

_Plumages._--[_Author's note_: The tiny chick of the least sandpiper is prettily colored as are the young of all the tundra nesting species. The upper parts, crown, back, wings, and thighs, are quite uniformly variegated with rich browns, "bay," "chestnut" and "Sanford's brown," through which the black basal down shows in places; this is spotted irregularly, from crown to rump, with small round spots, terminal tufts, of yellowish buff. The forehead and sides of the head and neck are pale buff, with narrow, black frontal, loral and malar stripes. The under parts are pure white.