Family SCOLOPACIDAE, Snipes and Sandpipers (continued 6)

Spring migration.—Early dates of arrival are: Virginia, Back Bay, April 18; District of Columbia, Washington, April 19; Maryland, Cambridge, May 1; Pennsylvania, Mercer County, April 18, Butler, April 27, Cataract, May 2, Erie, May 8, and Pittsburgh, May 9; New Jersey, Cape May, April 4, Caldwell, April 7, Princeton, April 30, and Camden, May 4; New York, Orient, April 21, New York City, April 25, Auburn, April 29, Canandaigua, May 4, and Rochester, May 9; Connecticut, Saybrook, May 3, and New Haven, May 8; Massachusetts, Woods Hole, April 23, Ipswich, April 24, Rehoboth, April 29, and Monomoy Island, May 6; Vermont, St. Johnsbury, May 6; Maine, Saco, May 5; Quebec, Quebec City, April 28, and Godbout, May 12; Nova Scotia, Halifax, April 20; Kentucky, Bowling Green, April 23, and Lexington, May 7; Missouri, Courtenay, April 1, Corning, April 5, and Independence, April 15; Illinois, De Kalb, April 6, Rantoul, April 9, and Milford, April 13; Indiana, Jeffersonville, April 5, Richmond, April 21, and Fort Wayne, April 22; Ohio, New Bremen, April 19, Painesville, April 30, and Oberlin, May 5; Michigan, Vicksburg, April 30, Battle Creek, May 3, and Detroit, May 4; Ontario, Listowel, May 3, Toronto, May 4, Hamilton, May 8, and Ottawa, May 10; Iowa, Marshalltown, April 25, Emmetsburg, April 27, and Forest City, April 30; Wisconsin, Beloit, April 18, Whitewater, April 28, and Madison, May 7; Minnesota, Lake Wilson, April 18, Heron Lake, April 24, and Waseca, April 30; Kansas, McPherson, April 9, Lawrence, April 24, and Wichita, April 28; Nebraska, Lincoln, March 21, Valentine, April 6, and Alda, April 10; South Dakota, Huron, April 8, Vermilion, April 20, and Pitrodie, April 22; North Dakota, Stump Lake, April 28, Jamestown, May 1, and Grafton, May 3; Manitoba, Gimli, May 6, and Shoal Lake, May 15; Saskatchewan, Orestwynd, May 7, Indian Head, May 12, and Dinsmore, May 14; Mackenzie, Fort Providence, May 15, Fort Simpson, May 17, and Fort Resolution, May 19; Colorado, Durango, April 12, Loveland, April 19, and Barr, April 26; Utah, Bear River Marshes, May 10; Wyoming, Cheyenne, April 23, and Laramie, April 23; Montana, Great Falls, April 16; Alberta, Carvel, May 6, and Flagstaff, May 9; Oregon, Narrows, April 16, Newport, April 21, and Klamath Lake, April 30; Washington, Tacoma, April 28, and Grays Harbor, April 30; British Columbia, Comox, April 20, Chilliwack, April 21, and Courtenay, April 22; and Alaska, Craig, May 2, Juneau, May 4, Bethel, May 6, and Kowak River, May 15.

Late dates of spring departure are: Porto Rico, Laguna de Guanica, May 26; Cuba, Mariel, May 10, and Santiago de las Vegas, May 14; the Bahama Islands, April 25; Florida, Punta Rassa, May 13, and St. Marks, May 28; Alabama, Bayou Labatre, May 16; Georgia, Savannah, May 17; South Carolina, Lady Island, May 12, and Aiken, May 14; North Carolina, Lake Ellis, May 18, and Raleigh, May 22; Pennsylvania, Erie, May 24, and Beaver, May 28; New Jersey, Bernardsville, May 20, Bloomfield, May 23, and Elizabeth, May 30; New York, Pine Plains, May 30, Rochester, May 31, and Orient, June 4; Connecticut, Norwalk, May 30, and New Haven, June 5; Massachusetts, Dennis, June 2, Harvard, June 9, and Pittsfield, June 16; Vermont, St. Johnsbury, June 6; New Hampshire, Manchester, June 3; Maine, Fryeburg, May 30, and Lewiston, June 6; Kentucky, Lexington, May 23; Chicago, May 23, and Port Byron, June 15; Indiana, Greencastle, May 26, and Lake County, June 1; Ohio, Columbus, May 21, Oberlin, May 23, and Youngstown, June 11; Michigan, Detroit, May 23, Sault Ste. Marie, May 26, and Manchester, May 29; Ontario, Listowel, May 23, Point Pelee, May 30, London, June 1, and Brighton, June 10; Iowa, Sioux City, May 30, Forest City, May 31, and Keokuk, June 2; Wisconsin, Berlin, May 24, Tomahawk, May 27, and Green Bay, June 4; Minnesota, Elk River, May 23, and Walker, June 6; Texas, Seadrift, May 8, Ingram, May 10, and San Angelo, May 16; Kansas, Emporia, May 15, Wichita, May 18, and Lawrence, May 21; Nebraska, Peru, May 15, Neligh, May 16, and Badger, May 18; South Dakota, Forestburg, May 21, Huron, May 23, and Yankton, May 25; North Dakota, Cando, May 24, and Charlson, June 1; Manitoba, Margaret, June 4, Reaburn, June 15, and Shoal Lake, June 20; Saskatchewan, Indian Head, May 23, and Osler, June 19; Colorado, Fort Lyon, May 29, and Barr, June 19; Wyoming, Cheyenne, May 27; Montana, Terry, May 21, and Great Falls, June 3; Alberta, Flagstaff, June 1; Tepic, Las Penas Islands, May 5; Lower California, Rivera, April 21, and Gardners Lagoon, April 23; California, Santa Barbara, May 10, Alameda, May 13, and Los Angeles, May 19; Oregon, Newport, May 20; Washington, Chelan, May 21, and Seattle, May 31; and British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, May 19.

Fall migration.—Early dates of fall arrival are: British Columbia, Atlin, June 29, Chilliwack, July 2, Okanagan Landing, July 3, and Courtenay, July 7; Washington, North Dalles, July 4, and Clallam Bay, July 17; Oregon, Silver Lake, July 1; California, Santa Barbara, July 18, and Bakersfield, July 19; Lower California, San Quentin, August 10; Alberta, Onoway, July 1; Wyoming, Fort Bridger, July 13; Utah, Provo, July 26; Colorado, Barr, July 5; Chihuahua, Pochaco, August 3; Saskatchewan, Isle de la Crosse, July 18; Manitoba, Victoria Beach, July 7, and Shoal Lake, July 27; North Dakota, Pembina, July 17, and Turtle Mountain, July 30; South Dakota, Forestburg, July 5, and Sioux Falls, July 24; Nebraska, Lincoln, July 14; Kansas, Emporia, August 6, and Osawatomie, August 31; Texas, Tom Green, and Concho Counties, July 20, and Tivoli, July 30; Minnesota, North Pacific Junction, July 8, Lanesboro, July 15, and St. Vincent, July 30; Wisconsin, Madison, July 11, North Freedom, July 14, and Madison, July 24; Iowa, Marshalltown, July 8, and Sioux City, July 17; Ontario, Toronto, July 4; Michigan, Detroit, July 7, and Charity Island, July 10; Ohio, Bay Point, July 3, Painesville, July 8, and Youngstown, July 27; Illinois, Chicago, July 2, and Peoria, July 13; Kentucky, Lexington, July 16; Maine, Portland, July 23; New Hampshire, Manchester, July 10; Vermont, St. Johnsbury, July 16, and Rutland, July 19; Massachusetts, Cape Cod, July 1, Ponkapog, July 16, and Dennis, July 25; Connecticut, New Haven, July 14, and Niantic, July 22; New York, Long Beach, July 3, Mastic, July 4, and Rochester, July 21; New Jersey, Tuckerton, July 3, Camden, July 7, and North Branch, July 8; Pennsylvania, Renovo, August 3, Beaver, August 11, Erie, August 13, and Pittsburgh, August 15; Maryland, Chesapeake Beach, August 16; South Carolina, Bulls Point, July 30; Georgia, Savannah, July 23; Alabama, Leighton, July 26; Florida, Palma Sola, July 9, James Island, July 20, and Pensacola, July 26; Bahama Islands, Long Island, July 16, Great Bahama, July 18, and Inagua, July 28; Cuba, Guantanamo, August 15, and Batabano, August 26; Jamaica, Port Henderson, August 2; Porto Rico, Mona Island, August 9, and Joyuda, August 28; Lesser Antilles, Barbuda, August 14, St. Vincent, August 20, and Trinidad, August 22; and Venezuela, Bonaire, July 23, Macuto, August 2, and La Guaira, August 10.

Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska, St. Paul Island, September 14; British Columbia, Chilliwack, September 11, and Okanagan Landing, September 15; Washington, Nisqually Flats, November 14; Oregon, Portland, September 7, Netarts Bay, September 11, and Tillamook, September 15; Montana, Corvallis, September 7; Utah, Ogden, October 8; Colorado, Denver, October 3, and Barr, October 5; Saskatchewan, Indian Head, September 4, and Rosetown, September 6; Manitoba, Aweme, September 26, and Margaret, October 3; North Dakota, Grafton, September 22; South Dakota, Forestburg, September 21, and Lacreek, September 29; Nebraska, Nebraska City, October 10, and Lincoln, November 11; Oklahoma, Copan, October 16; Minnesota, Lanesboro, September 15; Iowa, Emmetsburg, September 23, Keokuk, September 24, and Marshalltown, October 12; Ontario, Kingston, September 29, Ottawa, October 12, and Point Pelee, October 15; Michigan, Detroit, October 6; Ohio, Columbus, October 22, Youngstown, October 29, and Cleveland, November 9; Illinois, De Kalb, October 9; Missouri, Courtenay, November 9; Tennessee, October 23; Nova Scotia, Pictou, October 8; Quebec, Montreal, October 20; Maine, Lewiston, October 16; Massachusetts, Lynn, October 4, Taunton, October 7, and Woods Hole, October 30; New York, Sayville, October 6, Ithaca, October 12, Canandaigua, October 14, and Branchport, October 28; Maryland, Back River, November 3; and District of Columbia, Anacostia River, November 27.

Casual records.—The least sandpiper has on a few occasions been detected outside of its normal range. Among these occurrences are: Chile (no definite locality [Salvin]); Greenland (Disko Fjord, August, 1878, Noursoak Peninsula, spring of 1867, and Frederikshaab, July, 1857); England (Cornwall, October 1853, and September, 1890, and Devonshire, September, 1869, and August, 1892); and northeastern Siberia (Belkoffsky, July 23, 1880, and Plover Bay, August 13, 1880).

Egg dates.—Magdalen Islands: 79 records, June 3 to 30; 40 records, June 8 to 17. Labrador and Newfoundland: 13 records, June 7 to July 1; 7 records, June 15 to 25. Arctic Canada: 14 records, June 14 to July 8; 7 records, June 27 to July 1.

PISOBIA SUBMINUTA (Middendorff) LONG-TOED STINT

HABITS

I prefer the above name, as adopted by Robert Ridgway (1919), to the Check List name, damacensis, as it seems to have more certain application. The status of the species and its nomenclature is fully discussed by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885).

This is one of several Asiatic species that have gained places on our list as stragglers to Alaska. A specimen of the long-toed stint was taken by Dr. Charles H. Townsend on Otter Island, in the Pribilofs, on June 8, 1885, constituting the only North American record. As the species migrates regularly through the Commander Islands to Kamchatka, it would not be surprising if careful collecting in the western Aleutians showed it to occur frequently in North American territory. Its close resemblance to some other small sandpipers might easily cause it to be overlooked. Very little seems to be known about its habits.

Spring.—Doctor Stejneger (1885) says:

The long-toed stint arrives at Bering Island in large flocks during the latter part of May, and are then met with on sandy beaches, where the surf has thrown up large masses of seaweed, busily engaged in picking up the numerous small crustaceans, etc., with which the weeds abound. Most of the birds stay only a few days, going further north, while a small number remain over summer, breeding sparingly on the large swamp behind the village. My efforts to find the nests were unsuccessful, but I shot birds near Zapornaja Reschka on the 17th and 22d of June, and on the 7th of August.

W. Sprague Brooks (1915) reports birds seen or taken at points in Kamchatka on May 21 and 25, 1913, which probably were just arriving on their breeding grounds.

Eggs.—I can find no description of the nesting habits of the long-toed stint in print and have located only one set of eggs. This is in Col. John E. Thayer's collection and has very scanty data. It was taken by O. Bernhaner at Lake Baikal, Siberia, on June 18, 1902; the nest was "placed on the ground." The four eggs in this set are ovate pyriform in shape and have hardly any gloss. The ground colors vary from "olive buff" to "deep olive buff." They are spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with "snuff brown," "sepia," and "warm sepia," with a few underlying spots of "pale brownish drab." They measure 28.3 by 20, 28 by 19.7, 28.5 by 20.7 and 28.3 by 20 millimeters.

Plumages.—The downy young seems to be entirely unknown. I have not seen enough specimens to add anything to our knowledge of the molts. Mr. Ridgway (1919) has described the immature and seasonal plumages quite fully.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Said to breed in eastern Siberia, the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka, Bering Island, and south to the Kurile Islands. Eggs have been taken at Lake Baikal, Siberia, and it probably breeds in the valley of the Lena River, south of the Arctic Circle.

Winter range.—The Malay Archipelago, India, Burma, Ceylon, the Philippines, and Australia.

Migration.—It arrives on Bering Island during the latter part of May and on Kamchatka as early as May 21. Fall migrants reach the Philippines as early as August 10.

Casual record.—Accidental on the Pribilof Islands, Otter Island, June 8, 1885.

Egg date.—Siberia: 1 record, June 18.

PISOBIA RUFICOLLIS (Pallas) RUFOUS-NECKED SANDPIPER

HABITS

A long time ago Col. John E. Thayer (1909) added this species to the North American list. In a lot of birds which he received from A. H. Dunham were a pair of adults and two young of the rufous-necked sandpiper, or eastern least stint, as it is also called. They were collected at Nome, Alaska, on July 10, 1908, where they had evidently bred. This record was discredited, however, and the species was placed on the hypothetical list. But the species was firmly established as a North American bird by Alfred M. Bailey (1926), who reported the capture of two specimens in Alaska, an adult female at Cape Prince of Wales on June 11, and a bird of the year at Wainwright on August 15, 1922. The birds were breeding in that vicinity, an offshoot from the main breeding range of the species in northeastern Siberia.

Spring.—The main migration route is northward from southern Asia, the Philippine Islands, and even Australia, through the Kurile and Commander Islands and Kamchatka to its breeding grounds. Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885) says:

This species arrives at Bering Island late in May in rather large flocks, but does not stay long. None were met with during the whole summer, until, in the first half of September, they took a short rest on the shores of our island before continuing their long travel to the southward.

A large series of these birds was collected by the Jesup North Pacific expedition in northeastern Siberia. Dr. J. A. Allen (1905) quotes from the field notes of N. G. Buxton as follows:

Abundant spring and fall migrant, and some breed at Kooshka, but the majority move farther inland during the breeding season. First birds arrived May 28, and were common on the 30th in large flocks and in company with the red backed. By June 5 they have paired or passed on, and are not common again until the second week of July. They have mostly gone by September 11. In habits similar to Pelidna alpina.

Nesting.—Mr. Bailey (1926) was fortunate enough to see a pair building their nest, along a stream bed on the high tundra at the base of Wales Mountain, Alaska; in his notes for June 14, 1922, he wrote:

With my glasses I watched a pair of little pink-necked sandpipers as they worked around the grass at the foot of the hill. The male would give up his searching among the dried grass stalks to demonstrate his love for his little partner, upon which she would take to wing and circle about. Finally she entered a little tussock of grass, standing on her "nose" fluttering her tail and wings. Soon the male pushed his way inside, too, and after a few more rustling about, they took to wing. I looked in the grass and found a little cavity which they were just lining with leaves. Upon examining their nesting clump, I found a small pit, exactly similar to the nest of the western sandpiper, in which they had deposited about 20 small willow leaves. I marked the spot carefully, but upon my return found the nest abandoned.

W. Sprague Brooks (1915) found a few pairs breeding at the head of Providence Bay, northeastern Siberia; he writes:

Two sets of fresh eggs, numbering three and four, respectively, were taken on June 11, 1913; the male incubating one and the female the other. Both birds when disturbed fluttered off the nest like other sandpipers. The nests were cavities on small mounds of tundra lined with dry willow leaves.

Eggs.—I have been unable to locate any eggs of the rufous-necked sandpiper and do not know what became of the two sets referred to above. Joseph Dixon (1918) implies that the eggs resemble those of the spoonbill sandpiper.

Plumages.—In the downy young the crown and upper parts are variegated with black, "tawny" and "warm buff"; the forehead, superciliary stripe and sides of the head and neck are "warm buff"; the under parts are white, washed on the breast with pale buff; a narrow median stripe on the forehead and a broader loral stripe are black. The specimen described above was taken at Cape Serdze, Siberia, on July 16, and shows the beginning of the juvenal plumage; the back and scapulars are well covered with young feathers and the wings are well started, though the bird is still very small and mostly downy. The feathers of the back and scapulars are black, broadly edged with "hazel," and the scapulars are tipped with white.

Older young and subsequent plumages are well described by Robert Ridgway (1919). The molts are apparently similar to those of other species in the genus. The postnuptial molt of the body plumage occurs mainly in August and the wings and tail are molted in January and February. I have seen birds in winter plumage as early as August 13 and as late as March 15. Probably the prenuptial molt of the body plumage takes place in April. In fresh nuptial plumage the bright colors of the upper parts are veiled with "drab-gray" tips, which soon wear away. There is much individual variation in the amount of rufous on the head, neck, and breast. Mr. Dixon (1918) says that in this plumage the rufous-necked sandpiper looks very much like the spoonbill sandpiper; and, as its behavior is similar, it might easily be mistaken for it.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Northeastern Siberia (probably the delta of the Lena River and the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, certainly at Providence Bay, Kooshka, and Cape Serdze); and northwestern Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales, Wainwright, and probably Nome.)

Winter range.—The Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, and Australia.

Migrations.—First arrivals reach Gichiga, Siberia, May 28, and they are mostly gone by September 11. They pass Bering Island late in May and again during the first half of September. One taken by G. Dallas Hanna on St. Paul Island, August 27, 1920. They have been taken in the Philippines as early as August 13. Japan, China, and Lake Baikal are included in the migration route.

PELIDNA ALPINA ALPINA (Linnaeus) DUNLIN

HABITS

The well-known European dunlin has occurred occasionally as a straggler on our eastern coasts, Massachusetts and New York. It has probably occurred here more often than is known, for it closely resembles our red-backed sandpiper, especially in winter plumage. There is no reason why it should not occur here more often, for it is now known to breed regularly on the east coast of Greenland.

Thayer and Bangs (1914) thought, at one time, that we should recognize three races of the dunlin, which they designated as follows:

Pelidna alpina alpina (Linn.), western Europe. Small, with shortest, straightest bill; upper parts darker with less reddish; heavily spotted (sometimes almost streaked) with dusky below, between throat and black breast patch.

Pelidna alpina pacifica Coues. North America. Much larger, with much longer, more curved bill; upper parts paler with much more reddish; much less heavily spotted with dusky below, between throat and black breast patch.

Pelidna alpina sakhalina (Vieill.) East Siberia. Size and length and shape of bill intermediate between that of the other two forms; colors much paler than in either; upper parts very pale reddish, much mixed with gray; back of neck and top of head nearly wholly pale gray; below very slightly spotted with dusky, between throat and black breast patch (much less so, even than in pacifica).

Recently, Mr. Bangs tells me, he has come to the conclusion that the Siberian bird should not be separated from the American, as the characters are too slight and rather intermediate. This seems like a wise decision, as the naming of intermediates is undesirable.

Much has been published on the habits of the dunlin, but, as they differ but little from those of our birds, it seems superfluous to write its full life history.

Nesting.—Comparatively few of the great hosts of dunlins which visit England in fall and winter breed on the mainland of Great Britain. Macgillivray (1852) gives a good account of their nesting habits in Scotland, as follows:

The dunlins, in fact, breed in great numbers on the heaths of many parts of Scotland and its larger islands, where they may be found scattered in the haunts selected by the golden plovers, with which they are so frequently seen in company that they have popularly obtained the name of plovers' pages. Sometimes about the middle of April, but always before that of May, they are seen dispersed over the moors in pairs like the birds just named, which at this season they greatly resemble in manners. From this period until the end of August none are to be found along the shores of the sea, instead of searching which, they now seek for insects and worms, in the shallow pools, soft ground, and by the edges of lakes and marshes. The male frequently flies up to a person intruding upon his haunts, and sometimes endeavours to entice him away by feigning lameness.

Rev. Henry H. Slater (1898) says that the nest "is usually in a tussock of grass, a roughly made hollow, inartistically lined with grass, but often carefully concealed in the herbage."

A. L. V. Manniche (1910) found the dunlin a common breeding bird on the northeast coast of Greenland. He writes:

The nests are most frequently built on hillocks with long grass. I found, however, not seldom nests of dunlins on small islets covered with short grass, but always near to or surrounded by shallow water. The dunlin's nest is often placed on similar spots, and has the same exterior as that of the phalarope, but it can easily be distinguished, as the bottom of the dunlin's nest is always lined with a few withered leaves of Salix arctica, while the phalarope uses bent straws as layer for its eggs. On spots where many dunlins nest several newly scratched but half-finished nests may always be found; they are probably left because the birds have found the ground too wet. The dunlins like to nest on moors and bogs partly irrigated by melted snow streaming down from the rocks. On such places I found many nests with eggs and newborn downy young, which were lying close together in broods carefully guarded by the old female, on isolated larger hillocks surrounded by the ice-cold snow water. When the flood of melting snow is unusually strong, such localities may be completely inundated, and then not only the eggs but also the frail young ones, which are not yet able to save themselves by swimming through the cold water to dry spots, will be destroyed.

Eggs.—The great amount of variation in the beautiful eggs of the dunlin is well illustrated in Frank Poynting's (1895) fine colored plate of 12 eggs. Herbert Massey (1913) gives a better description of the eggs than I can give, so I quote him, as follows:

The eggs of this species resemble those of G. gallinago very closely in color, but in comparing a series (74 sets or 296 eggs) with that of G. gallinago one is struck by the greater proportion of the lighter ground colors in the dunlin, the very deep olives and the very dark browns being almost absent. On the other hand, the beautiful light blue-green and the pale buff are rare in G. gallinago. The surface spots are chiefly two shades of brown, a rich red and a dark brown, with, in many cases, spots of violet gray. In T. alpina it is rare to find the two shades of brown in the same egg, as is often the case with G. gallinago. The markings are very varied, some eggs dusted all over with tiny specks, others with specks and fair-sized spots, and again others with great blotches of color, chiefly at the larger end. The pattern markings on the eggs of the same set are often very dissimilar. Many of the eggs of this species show the spiral arrangement of the spots. The eggs are very glossy, and on this account have a brighter appearance than eggs of G. gallinago. I have only one set entirely without gloss.

The number of eggs is normally four, occasionally only three, and as many as five and even six have been found in a nest. The measurements of 100 eggs, furnished by Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, average 34.3 by 24.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 38.3 by 25.4, 35 by 25.8, 31.3 by 23.2, and 32 by 23 millimeters.

Young.—Incubation is shared by both sexes and requires 22 days. Macgillivray (1852) says of the young:

Like those of the golden plover and lapwing, they leave the nest immediately after exclusion from the egg, run about, and when alarmed conceal themselves by sitting close to the ground and remaining motionless. If at this period a person approaches their retreat, the male especially, but frequently the female also, flies up to meet the intruder and uses the same artifices for deceiving him as many other birds of this family. After they are able to shift for themselves the young remain several weeks on the moors with their parents, both collecting into small flocks, which are often intermingled with those of the golden plover, and often in the evenings uniting into larger. They rest at night on the smoother parts of the heath, and both species, when resting by day, either stand or lie on the ground. When one advances within a hundred yards of such a flock it is pleasant to see them stretch up their wings, as if preparing for flight, utter a few low notes, and immediately stand on the alert, or run a short way; but at this season they are not at all shy.

Seton Gordon (1915), after giving a charming account of the breeding haunts of the dunlin in Scotland, has this to say about the solicitude of a devoted mother.

It was about this time that I saw the hen in precisely the same locality as before. She showed much more anxiety than the cock, uttering almost incessantly two alarm notes as she walked round me. One of these notes was the characteristic trill, unlike, I think, any other cry in the bird world; the other, which appeared to be the note of extra alarm, was a harsh cry reminding me much of the alarm note of the lesser tern. In order to observe the effect, I called several times, imitating the cry of one of her chicks. The effect was striking and instantaneous; the bird rushed up in alarm and literally rolled herself about on the ground with feathers ruffled. She, indeed, presented such an appearance that it was quite impossible to see her head or feet emerging from the disheveled bundle into which she rolled herself. Evidently her tactics were quite different—considerably less elegant, but perhaps equally forcible—to those used by the dotterel under similar circumstances. After a time she began to realize that her deception was producing no effect on the object of her mistrust, and moved anxiously round me.

Plumages.—In natal down the young dunlin is similar to the young red-backed sandpiper, but is paler in color, more buffy, and less rufous. The subsequent molts and plumages are similar to those of our American bird. They are well described in Witherby's (1920) Handbook.

Food.—Macgillivray (1852) made some careful observations on the feeding habits of dunlins, which are well worth quoting, as follows:

Being in a muddy place, which probably afforded a good supply of food, they did not run much, but yet moved quickly about, with their legs a little bent, the body horizontal, the head a little declined, and the bill directed forward toward the ground at an angle of about 45°. I observed that they seemed in general merely to touch the surface, but also sometimes to introduce their bill into the mud for about a fourth of its length; but this was always with a rapid tapping and somewhat wriggling movement, and not by thrusting it in sedately. This flock having flown away, I observed another of about 12 individuals alight at a little distance on the other side of the mill stream. Being very intent on tapping the mud, they allowed me to approach within 10 paces, so that I could see them very distinctly. I examined the marks made by them in the mud. Although it was soft, very few footmarks were left, but the place was covered with numberless small holes made by their bills, and forming little groups, as if made by the individual birds separately. Of these impressions very many were mere hollows not much larger than those on a thimble, and not a twelfth of an inch deep; others scarcely perceptible, while a few were larger, extending to a depth of two-twelfths; and here and there one or two to the depth of nearly half an inch. On scraping the mud, I could perceive no worms or shells. It is thus clear that they search by gently tapping, and it appears that they discover the object of their search rather by the kind of resistance which it yields than by touch like that of the human skin.

Witherby's (1920) Handbook says that the food is mainly animal and includes mollusks, worms, crustaceans (shrimps and sandhoppers), insects (beetles, flies, etc.), and spiders.

Behavior.—The habits of the European dunlin seem to be the same as those of our bird. It is equally tame and confiding, unless shot at too much, and it has the same habit of flying in large, closely bunched flocks. John T. Nichols tells me that some that he saw near Liverpool in September, "when on the ground, moved about very actively for the most part (contrasted with the sluggishness of the redback as we know it in migration) and presented a low, hunch-shouldered figure." Abel Chapman (1924) says:

On one occasion, on May 14, seeing three small waders floating on the mirror-like surface of the tide and quite 200 yards offshore, we punted out to them in full anticipation of having at last fallen in with phalaropes. Curiously, the trio proved to be dunlins, a species I can not recall having seen contentedly swimming in deep water on any other occasion.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Northern Europe: Iceland, the Faroes, British Isles, northern coasts of Germany, northern Russia east to Kolguev, Spitzbergen, and probably Nova Zembla. South to Holland and rarely to northern Spain and northern Italy. Replaced by one or more other forms in Siberia, to which Asiatic migrants probably belong.

Winter range.—Great Britain, Madeira, the Canaries, the Mediterranean, northern and eastern Africa as far south as Zanzibar, the Red Sea, and perhaps India.

Casual records.—Accidental in North America; Shinnecock Bay, Long Island, New York, September 15, 1892; Chatham, Massachusetts, August 11, 1900. It has probably been many times overlooked.

Egg dates.—Orkney Islands: 50 records, May 12 to June 27; 25 records, May 20 to June 2. Iceland: 16 records, May 18 to June 16; 8 records, June 3 to 12.

PELIDNA ALPINA SAKHALINA (Vieillot) RED-BACKED SANDPIPER

HABITS

Although this sandpiper is certainly red-backed enough to deserve the name, it seems to me that American dunlin would be a better name, as it is only subspecifically distinct from the well-known European dunlin. The doubtful question as to whether a third subspecies should be recognized on the Pacific coast has been referred to under the preceding form.

Spring.—It is a hardy bird and perhaps a lazy bird for it winters farther north than most of its tribe and makes shorter migrations than any of the waders that breed in Arctic regions. From its winter range well within the United States it migrates northward from Florida and the Carolinas along the Atlantic coast to the Middle States, rarely to New England, through the Great Lakes region, and along the west coast of Hudson Bay to its summer home on the barren grounds. C. J. Pennock tells me he has seen it in Florida, Wakulla County, as late as May 26; I found it very abundant and in fine spring plumage on the coastal islands of South Carolina on May 22 and 23; and I have seen it near Corpus Christi, Texas, as late as May 29. These are all late dates, however, for the migration starts in April and is generally completed in May. A single bird which I saw on the coast of Louisiana on June 22, 1910, was a nonbreeding loiterer. A. G. Lawrence and C. G. Harrold both record it in their notes as common in Manitoba from the middle to the last of May (12 to 29). William Rowan, however, finds it rare in Alberta.

There is a heavy northward migration along the Pacific coast. In some notes sent to me by D. E. Brown from Grays Harbor, Washington, he says:

This bird, next to the western sandpiper, was by far the most abundant of all the shore birds. It was noted in immense flocks the day of my arrival, May 3, and was very common when I left, May 24. Mixed flocks of this species and western sandpipers must have contained 6,000 or 7,000 birds.

Herbert W. Brandt in his manuscript notes says:

The red-backed sandpiper is one of the most abundant shore birds inhabiting the Hooper Bay region, confining itself almost entirely to the low-lying flats. The Eskimos first reported this hardy species on May 10 and two days later we collected our first specimen at Point Dall. They were common in loose flocks by May 15 and abundant by May 20. At that time they were often associated with the Aleutian sandpiper, to which, in the field, they bear a marked resemblance. Soon after the later date the flocks disintegrated into mated couples and they then repaired to their lowland breeding haunts.

Courtship.—Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) gives an attractive account of the courtship of this species, as follows:

Soon after they arrive in spring they are engaged in pairing, and the males may be seen upon quivering wings flying after the female and uttering a musical, trilling note, which falls upon the ear like the mellow tinkle of large water drops falling rapidly into a partly filled vessel. Imagine the sounds thus produced by the water run together into a steady and rapid trill some 5 to 10 seconds in length, and the note of this sandpiper is represented. It is not loud but has a rich full tone, difficult to describe, but pleasant to hear among the discordant notes of the various waterfowl whose hoarse cries arise on all sides. As the lover's suit approaches its end the handsome suitor becomes exalted, and in his moments of excitement he rises 15 or 20 yards, and, hovering on tremulous wings over the object of his passion, pours forth a perfect gush of music, until he glides back to earth exhausted, but ready to repeat the effort a few minutes later. The female coyly retreats before the advances of the male, but after various mishaps each bird finds its partner for the summer and they start off house hunting in all the ardor of a rising honeymoon.

Mr. Brandt in his manuscript notes describes it a little differently, thus:

The red-backed sandpiper, often called the American dunlin, arrives in flocks, the individuals of which are apparently not all mated. A female will jump up and be immediately pursued by two to five males, and as they all twist about, in and out, twittering all the time, the alternate flashing of their reddish backs and black lower parts seems like the signals of the telegraphic code. The males appear never to catch the females, but to try to keep as close to them as possible. When they alight again in the flock whence they started they at once resume feeding without further display. The thrilling song of this dainty bird is delivered while hovering with quivering wing beats in mid-air. It appears as if both male and female carry on the vocal effort, which sounds something like the cheery tinkling of ice in a glass, and ends with a real lover's note dear, dear, dear. This is repeated again and again and is one of the pleasant characteristic songs of the marshy grass-woven flats, where the discords of waterfowl prevail. After the fastest male has captured his elusive sweetheart the two retire to their chosen place on the flats to take up their more serious duties. Here the female lays her eggs, often in a situation that is moist, and never very far from a small pond or slough.

Nesting.—The same observer says of the nest:

The home of the red-backed sandpiper is almost always found on a dry eminence in the widespread grassy tidelands, where, near some pool under the damp matted vegetation of the previous year, sufficient concealment is afforded. Here in a mere depression in the ground, still frozen underneath, a fragile nest is hurriedly made of dry grass stems and filled, rather than lined, with the tiny crisp leaves of the berry-bearing plants, that are deposited by the flood tides of autumn in this area. The range of measurements of 25 nests is: Inside diameter, 3½ to 4 inches; inside depth 2 to 3 inches; total depth, 3 to 5 inches.

This sandpiper is among the early nesters, we having taken the first completed set of eggs on May 29, while by June 1 we had discovered 75. The middle of June found the downy young bursting forth, dainty creatures clad in black and brown with markings similar to those of the other sandpiper chicks.

Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) found this species breeding on the Arctic coast of Alaska, about 20 miles northeast of Cape Prince of Wales, on June 27 and 28; he writes:

The birds were found scattered out on the tundras whence they could be flushed from their nests or from where they had been feeding. One nest was a cup-shaped cavity slightly lined with grasses and sunk into the top of a hummock of moss surrounded by marshy ground. The two others found were similarly located except that they were embedded in clumps of grass, and mostly hidden from view by the surrounding blades. Each nest contained four eggs. One was fresh but the other two were considerably incubated.

Prof. Wells W. Cooke (1912) made the statement that this species has two breeding areas "separated by nearly 1,500 miles of Arctic coast, from Point Barrow to the Boothia Peninsula," where "there seems to be no certain record of the occurrence of the red-backed sandpiper." This is far from true, for it is well known to breed there and eggs have been taken at many places along the Arctic coast.

Eggs.—Herbert W. Brandt (Mss.) describes his series of 120 eggs of this sandpiper very well, as follows:

The four eggs of the red-backed sandpiper, which is their complement, are very handsome and show more variation than the eggs of most of the other shore birds breeding in the Hooper Bay region. In shape they are subpyriform to ovate pyriform and rest amid the leafy nest lining with the small ends together often so placed that the sitting bird during incubation touches only the larger ends. The shell is not as strong as many shore-bird eggs of the same size but they are not fragile by any means and they have considerable luster. As was true of many of the limicoline eggs found along that Bering Sea coast, there were two general types of ground color—the one, the greenish, that predominated by a ratio of about 15 to 1—and the other was the brownish type. The ground color ranges from "pale glaucous green"—that is the most common type—to "glaucous green," while the brownish-tinged eggs shade from "olive buff" to "dark olive buff." The surface markings are conspicuous and vary greatly, for on some types the spots are small and well scattered over the eggs; on others they are large, irregular, and bold; while on still other specimens they are confluent on the larger end and form a blotch that completely decorates that part of the egg.

These spots are irregular in shape, but are inclined to be elongated with their axis twisting to the right, so that when a series of eggs is viewed looking toward the larger end, the spots produce a clockwise spiral. Some of these spots are more twisted than others, but on a few eggs there are no spiral tendencies at all. The surface spots are quite variable in color, dependent largely on the thickness of the pigment deposited, for where the latter is thin the true color is observable, but when the decoration is liberal, the blot becomes opaque and the color is lost. These spots range from "auburn" and "raw umber" to "chestnut brown" and "blackish brown." The underlying spots are well hidden by the boldness of the surface markings and inclined to be small and regular and are often more or less numerous. Their shades are delicate, ranging from "pallid gray" to "mouse gray." An occasional egg exhibits scattering insignificant additional markings of deep "blackish brown."

The measurements of 145 eggs average 36.3 by 25.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 40.1 by 25.9, 39.2 by 26.5, 34 by 25, and 34.5 by 23.5 millimeters.

Young.—Both sexes incubate and are rather close sitters, as well as devoted and bold in the defense of their young. The period of incubation is probably the same as for the European dunlin, 22 days. John Murdoch (1885) says:

Both parents share in the work of incubation, though we happened to obtain more males than females with the eggs. The young are pretty generally hatched by the first week in July, and both adults and young keep pretty well out of sight till the 1st of August, when they begin to show about the lagoons and occasionally about the beach, many of the young birds still downy about the head. The autumn flight of young birds appears about the middle of August, associating with the young A. maculata and M. griseus scolopaceus, in good-sized flocks, particularly about the pools on the high tundra below Cape Smythe. They continue plenty in these localities, sometimes appearing along the beach, for about a week, when the greater part of them depart, leaving only a few stragglers that stay till the first few days of September.

Plumages.—The downy young red-backed is much paler and more buffy than that of the least sandpiper. The crown, back, wings, and thighs are variegated with brownish black, "ochraceous tawny" and "hazel," except at the base of the down on the back, there is no rich, deep brown; the above parts are quite thickly sprinkled, especially on the back, with minute, round spots, terminal tufts of pale buff; a distinct stripe of these nearly encircles the posterior half of the crown. The black of the crown extends nearly to the bill and there is a black loral stripe; the rest of the head and a band across the lower throat are "warm buff." The rest of the under parts are white. The nape is a grizzly mixture of dull buff and dusky.

The juvenal plumage, as seen in Alaska in August, is strikingly handsome and quite distinctive. The feathers of the crown are dusky, edged with "ochraceous tawny"; the sides of the head and nape are "drab-gray," streaked with dusky; the feathers of the back are black, broadly edged with three colors in different areas, "ochraceous tawny," "hazel," and buffy white; the scapulars are black, edged with "light ochraceous buff"; the wing coverts are gray, tipped with pale buff; the rump and upper tail coverts are "hair brown" to "drab"; the breast is tinged with grayish and pale buff and streaked with dusky; the throat and rest of the under parts are white, conspicuously and more or less heavily spotted with dusky on the sides of the belly. This beautiful plumage is worn for only a short time and is molted before the birds leave their northern breeding grounds. The postjuvenal molt begins in August and is generally finished before October; it involves nearly all of the body plumage, nearly all of the scapulars, and some of the tertials, but not the rump, upper tail coverts, or flight feathers.

In first winter plumage young birds are much like adults, but the ashy brown upper parts are usually somewhat paler, and they can always be recognized by the juvenal wing coverts and a few retained scapulars and tertials. A partial prenuptial molt, similar to that of the adult, produces a first nuptial plumage, in which young birds can be distinguished only by the retained juvenal wing coverts. In fresh plumage the black belly patch is veiled with white tips, which soon wear away and leave this area clear black.

The first postnuptial molt of young birds and the corresponding molt of adults produce adult winter plumages. The molt is complete and begins in July or even late in June; the wings are apparently molted first in July, and are entirely renewed before the birds start to migrate; the body molt begins in August and lasts through September; there are usually traces of the old nuptial plumage left when the birds arrive here on migration. The partial prenuptial molt of adults comes in April and May and involves the body plumage, but not all the scapulars or rump or wing coverts.

Food.—Red-backed sandpipers obtain their food on the ocean beaches at low tide, on sandy flats or on mud flats, often feeding in company with sanderlings, or with other small shore birds. Some writers have referred to them as nervous and active running about in a lively manner while feeding, but I have usually found them rather sluggish and inactive at such times, easily approached and unsuspicious. Their food consists of small mollusks, sand fleas, and other small crustaceans, amphipods, flies and other insects and their larvae, diving and other aquatic beetles, marine worms, and occasionally a few seeds of aquatic plants. They are apt to gather where fish cleanings and other offal are thrown out, to feed on the flies and other insects that abound there. Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) writes:

In feeding they frequently plunge the bill, slightly open to its base in the soft sand or mud, appear to work it about and when successful draw forth an amphipod or a worm. Several times on one occasion I saw one draw a worm to the water close at hand as if to wash it before swallowing it. On another occasion a couple of dunlins were so tame that it was possible to approach within 5 feet of them. They were diligently probing in the sandy mud, wading in water up to their bellies. At this depth it was necessary for them to immerse their heads entirely, and I could see them shut their eyes as they went under water. Whether the eyes were afterwards opened or not I am unable to say. When disturbed they flew but a short way, and if they happened to alight in water too deep for their legs, they swam readily, as do all shore birds. When disturbed the dunlin utters a short kuk. Their call note is distinctive, and resembles somewhat the word purre, by which name the European species is called. The note is plaintive and sometimes melodious, and recalls, without its harshness, the cry of the common tern.

Behavior.—The earlier writers refer to this as an active, restless bird. Audubon (1840) says:

There seems to be a kind of impatience in this bird that prevents it from remaining any length of time in the same place, and you may see it scarcely alighted on a sand bar, fly off without any apparent reason to another, where it settles, runs for a few moments, and again starts off on wing.

Giraud (1844) writes:

It is a restless active bird and gleans its food with great nimbleness, and seems to be fond of continually changing its position. Soon after alighting they collect together and make a short excursion over the water, again alighting a short distance from where they had previously taken wing. During their aerial excursions, when whirling about, they crowd so close together that many are killed at a single shot. On one of these occasions Mr. Brasher informs me that he killed 52 by discharging both barrels into a flock. This number is greater than I ever before heard of; but from 10 to 15 is not unusual.

Wilson (1832), writing when shore birds were abundant, says of this flocking habit:

These birds, in conjunction with several others, sometimes collect together in such flocks, as to seem, at a distance, a large cloud of thick smoke, varying in form and appearance every instant, while it performs its evolutions in air. As this cloud descends and courses along the shores of the ocean, with great rapidity, in a kind of waving, serpentine flight, alternately throwing its dark and white plumage to the eye, it forms a very grand and interesting appearance. At such times the gunners make prodigious slaughter among them; while, as the showers of their companions fall, the whole body often alight, or descend to the surface with them, till the sportsman is completely satiated with destruction.

Suckley (1860) found them equally abundant in the Puget Sound region, for he writes:

Early in the season, before they have been rendered wild by being much shot at, I have observed that upon a volley being fired into a flock the unharmed birds in terror sweep around in several circles, and hovering "bunch," as the sportsmen say, over their wounded companions, and sometimes realight with them. At the moment of their hovering in a compact body over the wounded is the time generally seized to fire the reserved barrels; two or three shots will frequently bring down from 30 to 60 birds; and I have known one instance where an officer of the Army bagged 96 birds from one discharge of his fowling piece. After being fired into once or twice the flocks, learning to avoid sympathizing with their dead and wounded, become shy and wary.

Several observers have remarked on the remarkable tameness of the red-backed sandpiper. William Brewster (1925) spent two hours photographing five of these birds within 8 feet of his boat on an open mud flat; they paid no attention to his movements, the click of the camera, or the flapping of the focusing cloth; "during much of the time they were apparently asleep;" he even had difficulty in frightening them away until he splashed water on them. I have frequently walked up to within a few feet of feeding birds and had some difficulty in inducing them to fly more than a short distance.

Their eyesight is keen enough, however, as shown by an incident related by W. E. Saunders (1896). A bird which had been feeding near him for about an hour, stopped, looked steadily, as if afraid, and "shrank down flat on the ground, where he lay perfectly still." After some time Mr. Saunders discovered an eagle approaching, so far away that he could hardly see him. After the eagle had passed the sandpiper resumed his feeding.

Voice.—The red-backed sandpiper is usually silent when on the ground. John T. Nichols, in his notes, calls the "flushing note of a single bird a fine chit-l-it. Its flight note is an emphatic near-whistled chu or chru, resembling some of the calls of the pectoral and semipalmated sandpipers, but quite diagnostic when one is sufficiently familiar with it. This call may also be phonetically suggested by the syllable purre, which is a colloquial name of the European dunlin, of which it is a race."

Doctor Townsend (1905) says: "The note is plaintive and sometimes melodious, and recalls, without its harshness, the cry of the common tern." Mr. Murdoch (1885) and others have noticed that the rolling call, heard on the breeding grounds in June, "reminds one of the notes of the frogs in New England in spring." A bird which Mr. Brewster (1925) flushed "uttered a peculiarly mellow tweet-twel-l-l-ut just as it rose on wing."

Field marks.—In spring plumage the American dunlin deserves the name red backed, for its back is even redder than that of its European relative; at that season the black patch on the belly is very conspicuous, even at a long distance, so that the species is easily recognized. It is a short-legged, rather stocky bird, about the size of the sanderling, and can be identified in the fall by its rather long and somewhat curved bill and its dull, mouse-colored back. A narrow white stripe in the wing can be seen in flight.

Fall.—Of their departure from Alaska, Doctor Nelson (1887) writes:

The young are mostly on the wing toward the end of July, and the birds begin to gather into flocks along the muddy edges of the brackish pools and the banks of tide creeks. Very soon after this they begin to lose their summer plumage, and the molt continues until the last of September or first of October. During the first of October they are very common in flocks and singly among the lakes and streams; a little later and the borders of these situations are edged with ice and most of the birds leave for the south, but some of the hardier ones betake themselves to the seashore, where they join with Coues's sandpiper and remain as late as the 12th or 13th of the month.

The southward migration separates into two widely divergent main routes, with only stragglers between. One route is southward along the Pacific coast and one southeastward along the west coast of Hudson Bay, through the eastern Great Lakes, and to the coast of New England and farther south. E. A. Preble (1902) saw them on the west coast of Hudson Bay, just commencing the migration, on July 19, and "present by thousands" south of Cape Eskimo on August 3 to 13. It seems to be a rare bird in the interior Provinces of Canada; my Manitoba correspondents have no fall records, and Professor Rowan has only one for Alberta. Mr. Brewster (1925) saw it regularly at Lake Umbagog, Maine, in October; and W. E. Clyde Todd (1904) calls it common in Erie County, Pennsylvania; probably these two points represent the north and south limits of the eastward route. Mr. Todd (1904) quotes from Samuel E. Bacon's notes as follows:

In former years extensive flights took place about the 1st of November, upon which occasions bushels of them are said to have fallen to a single gun. During these great flights the flocks were accustomed to follow the outside beach of the peninsula (having presumably come directly across the lake) to its southeastern extremity, thence crossing over to the sand beach east of the mouth of Mill Creek, where, after having been sadly depleted by dozens of guns, they would finally rise high in the air and pass southward over the mainland, flock following flock, all day long. I know this by hearsay only, but am positive that this is the bird that used to arrive in such numbers late in the fall. On October 29, 1897, I killed 53 of these birds out of two flocks, comprising in all perhaps as many more, and this is the nearest approach to a flight that has occurred of late years.

The redbacks do not reach the Massachusetts coast in any numbers until the last week in September and the main flight comes in October, with some lingering into November and a few remain all winter occasionally. While with us they frequent the ocean beaches and salt-water mud flats, where they associate with sanderlings, ringnecks, peep, and turnstones. During high tides they rest on the high, sandy beaches in the large flocks of other small waders. They fly in close flocks, low over the water. The adults which come first, have nearly completed the body molt when they arrive here.

Winter.—It is only a short flight farther to their winter homes on our southern coast. Dr. Louis B. Bishop (1901) found this to be "the most abundant sandpiper" on Pea Island, North Carolina, in winter. Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that it usually arrives in South Carolina about the first week in October and remains until May 25. "With the exception of the western sandpiper, this species is the most common of all the waders that winter on the coast. It is a very hardy bird and is apparently not inconvenienced by a temperature of 6° above zero." We found it common all winter on the coastal islands and mud flats on the west coast of Florida. Mr. Nichols says in his notes:

Where met with on its winter range in northwest Florida it apparently shifted its feeding grounds with high or low water, at the particular locality in mind, more or less dependent on the wind. When offshore winds caused low tides and extensive mud flats, it was less numerous; when the water was high, numbers were seen flying over the bay. They were present on inundated landward flats, and, as the tide receded, fed along the edge of the bay near by, wading in the water and often immersing most of the head as they probed.

According to J. Hooper Bowles (1918) they winter farther north on the Pacific coast than on this side. He writes:

These birds are among the last of the Limicolae to arrive in the fall migration, often reaching Washington after many of the other species have left for the South. They make up for it, however, by staying with us all winter and late into the spring. On the Nisqually Flats I have seen them in flocks of hundreds when the marsh was a solid pack of snow and ice, the rise and fall of the tide making sufficient feeding grounds to keep them fat and strong.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—North America and eastern Asia; casual in Central America and the West Indies.

Breeding range.—North to northeastern Siberia (Taimyr Peninsula, Nijni Kolymsk, Cape Wankarem, and East Cape); Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales, Point Barrow, Colville Delta, and Camden Bay); Mackenzie (Cape Bathurst, Mackenzie Bay, Franklin Bay, and Baillie Island); and Franklin (Port Kennedy). East to Franklin (Port Kennedy and Felix Harbor); and probably eastern Keewatin (Cape Fullerton). South to probably eastern Keewatin (Cape Fullerton); northwestern Mackenzie (Great Slave Lake and Peel River); and Alaska (probably Nushagak and Ugashik). West to Alaska (Ugashik, Pastolik, Hooper Bay, and St. Michael); and northeastern Siberia (Cape Serdze, Plover Bay, and Taimyr Peninsula). The species also has been recorded as breeding in Greenland, and on the coast of Labrador (Okak), but the records are indefinite or otherwise unsatisfactory.

Winter range.—North to Washington (Dungeness Spit); Texas (Refugio County); Louisiana (Freshwater Bayou and New Orleans); and southern New Jersey (Anglesea). East to southern New Jersey (Anglesea, and Five-mile Beach); Virginia (Wallops, Cobbs, Sandy, and Hog Islands); North Carolina (Pea Island and Fort Macon); South Carolina (Port Royal and Frogmore); Georgia (Savannah and Darien); and Florida (Amelia Island, Tarpon Springs, and Fort Myers). South to Florida (Fort Myers); Texas (probably Brownsville); and Lower California (La Paz). West to Lower California (La Paz); California (San Diego, Alamitas Bay, Los Banos, San Francisco Bay, and Humboldt Bay); Oregon (Yaquina Bay); and Washington (Nisqually Flats, Tacoma, and Dungeness Spit).

It also has been noted in winter north to the mouth of the Fraser River, British Columbia (specimen in U. S. National Museum); Barnstable, Massachusetts (Howe, December 23, 1903); Long Island, New York (Fleischer, December 25, 1914); and south to Great Inagua, Bahama Islands (Worthington, February 3, 1909).

Spring migration.—Early dates of arrival in the spring are: New York, Long Island, April 3, Canandaigua, April 20, and Orient, May 7; Rhode Island, Block Island, May 12; Massachusetts, Monomoy Island, April 13, Rehoboth, May 2, and Boston, May 4; Quebec, Quebec, May 2; Illinois, Addison, May 9; Ohio, Youngstown, April 18, Cedar Point, May 8, Tiffin, May 10, and Oberlin, May 11; Michigan, Jackson, May 4, Detroit, May 13, and Ann Arbor, May 14; Ontario, Toronto, May 12, and Point Pelee, May 13; Iowa, Sigourney, May 13; Wisconsin, Whitewater, May 1, Madison, May 10, and Elkhorn, May 13; Minnesota, Heron Lake, May 11, Waseca, May 14, and Hutchinson, May 18; eastern Nebraska, Lincoln, May 7; South Dakota, Vermilion, April 29, and Huron, May 6; North Dakota, Sweetwater, May 10; Manitoba, Whitewater Lake, May 12, and Shoal Lake, May 22; British Columbia, Courtenay, April 18, Chilliwak, April 25, and Metlakatla, April 29; Yukon, Dawson, May 24; Alaska, Howcan, April 2, Kuiu Island, April 28, Craig, May 1, mouth of the Yukon River, May 10, Admiralty Island, May 14, Fort Kenai, May 16, and Point Barrow, May 31; and Siberia, Bering Island, May 26, and Nijni Kolymsk, May 28.

Late dates of spring departure are: Florida, Gasparilla Island, May 24, St. Marks, May 26, and New Smyrna, May 26; Georgia, Savannah, May 29; South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, May 29; North Carolina, Fort Macon, May 22, and Churchs Island, May 26; Virginia, Pig Island, May 28; New Jersey, Anglesea, May 20; New York, Canandaigua, May 26, New York City, May 30, Rockaway, June 3, and Geneva, June 7; Massachusetts, Cape Cod, May 22, and Ipswich, May 30; Maine, Scarboro, June 2; Quebec, Quebec City, May 28; Illinois, Waukegan, May 27, Riverdale, May 31, and Chicago, June 5; Ohio, Painesville, May 27, Oberlin, June 1, and Lakeside, June 16; Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie, May 29, Detroit, May 30, and Neebish Island, June 3; Ontario, Mitchell's Bay, June 1, Hamilton, June 3, Point Pelee, June 10, and Toronto, June 13; Iowa, Emmetsburg, May 25, Storm Lake, May 26, and Sioux City, June 4; Wisconsin, Madison, May 27, and Green Bay, June 4; Minnesota, Lanesboro, May 30, Heron Lake, June 2, and Wilder, June 10; Texas, Fort Brown, May 16, Dallas, May 20, and Corpus Christi, May 29; eastern Nebraska, Lincoln, June 9; South Dakota, Vermilion, May 24, and Forestburg, May 30; North Dakota, Jerusalem, June 1; Manitoba, Killarney, May 28, and Shoal Lake, June 5; California, Fresno, May 15, Santa Barbara, May 17, and Alameda, May 21; Oregon, Beaver Creek, Lincoln County, May 18, and Silver Lake, June 4; and British Columbia, Cowickan, May 18.

Fall migration.—Early dates of fall arrival are: Washington, Smith Island, August 14, and Point Chehalis, August 20; California, Santa Barbara, September 9, Alameda, September 19, and Hayward, September 20; Manitoba, Gimli, August 20; South Dakota, Forestburg, July 30; eastern Nebraska, Lincoln, September 1; Minnesota, Wilder, September 16; Ontario, Brighton, July 31, and Ottawa, August 21; Michigan, Saginaw Bay, August 20, and Ann Arbor, September 21; Ohio, Youngstown, August 10, Pelee Island, August 15, and Cleveland, August 22; Illinois, Chicago, July 22; Quebec, Godbout, September 7; Massachusetts, Norton, August 26, and Taunton, September 1; New York, Orient, August 11, Canandaigua, September 14, and Ithaca, September 24; Pennsylvania, Erie, September 25; Maryland, Lock Raven, September 3; District of Columbia, Washington, September 25; Virginia, Smiths Island, September 28; and South Carolina, Mount Pleasant, September 30.

Late dates of fall departures are: Siberia, Bering Island, October 25; Alaska, Sitka, October 10, mouth of the Yukon River, October 13, and St. Paul Island, October 30; British Columbia, Comox, October 22, and Chilliwack, November 29; Manitoba, Lake Winnipeg, October 31; eastern Nebraska, Lincoln, November 7; Minnesota, Hallock, October 16; Wisconsin, Madison, November 15; Iowa, Keokuk, October 4, and Marshalltown, October 12; Ontario, Ottawa, October 29, and Long Point, November 2; Michigan, Detroit, October 11, Sault Ste. Marie, October 22, and St. Clair Flats, November 20; Ohio, Huron, November 5, Youngstown, November 8, and Columbus, November 28; Illinois, Chicago, October 31, Lake Forest, November 3, and La Grange, November 6; Maine, Lewiston, October 12, and Portland, November 25; Massachusetts, Lynn, November 3, Boston, November 10, and Monomoy Island, November 14; Rhode Island, Block Island, November 16; Connecticut, Fairfield, November 29; New York, Orient, November 12, and Long Beach, December 25; and Pennsylvania, Erie, November 3.

Casual records.—Accidental occurrences of the red-backed sandpiper have been reported mostly from the Rocky Mountain States. Among these are: Arizona, near Tucson, April, 1883; Nevada, Pyramid Lake, May, 1868; and Utah, Ogden and Salt Lake City (reported in September by Allen). It also has been reported as detected at Dominica, West Indies, October 1, 1904; and at Momotombo, Nicaragua, on May 23. (This last record represented by a specimen in the British Museum.)

Egg dates.—Alaska: 83 records, May 26 to July 8; 42 records, June 4 to 30. Arctic Canada: 15 records, June 5 to July 7; 8 records, June 26 to July 3.

EROLIA FERRUGINEA (Brünnich) CURLEW SANDPIPER

Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain

HABITS

The curlew sandpiper is only an occasional visitor to America, and with the exception of a single record from Point Barrow all the recorded instances have been reported from the eastern side of the Continent. It has been met with in Canada on two occasions, about ten times in the Eastern States, twice in the West Indies and once in Patagonia.

Courtship.—Very few observations on this species have been made on its breeding grounds in eastern Siberia, so our information as to its courtship is still very defective. The late Dr. H. Walter, during his enforced detention on the Taimyr Peninsula, from September, 1900, to August, 1901, while frozen in on board the exploring ship "Sarja," noted that they arrived on the Peninsula on June 13, and from that date onward were to be met with chasing one another in little parties of three or four over the tundra. There is no mention of any song flight (as in Crocethia alba, Erolia temminchii, Arquatella maritima, Calidris canutus, etc.).

Nesting.—The usual nesting place is on the gentle slope of the drier tundra, where the reindeer moss is interspersed with tufts of wiry grass and allowing a wide field of view over the neighborhood. Miss Haviland (1915a) noted that the actual nest hollow was rather deep, so that the pointed ends of the eggs were pointed downwards almost vertically. Walter describes them as shallow depressions, lined with a few dry bents, but H. L. Popham (1898) also remarks that "the nest was a rather deep hollow amongst the reindeer moss in an open space on a ridge of ground, somewhat drier than the surrounding swampy tundra, in much the same sort of place as that generally chosen by a grey plover."

Although Middendorff undoubtedly met with birds about to breed, and indeed extracted a partly developed egg from the oviduct of a female which he had shot on the Boganida River in latitude 74° N., no one had actually found the nest of this species till Mr. H. Leyborne Popham (1898) visited the lower reaches of the Yenesei in 1897. Two years previously (August, 1895), he had met with family parties on the delta and had shot young which must have been reared in the neighborhood. On July 3, 1897, finding the way below Golchika blocked by the ice, he turned back to explore an island of soft tundra with a rocky shore. One of his men called out that he had seen a sandpiper and at once, according to his own words:

I sent the other two men away and lay down to watch the bird, which stood still for some time, then flew some distance away and I lost sight of it among some turnstones. We again saw the bird near the same spot, so Hansen and I lay down to watch while the mosquitoes did their worst. The bird stood for some time watching us and then began running about; it was very difficult to keep it in sight for it took advantage of every little hollow to run in and every little ridge to hide behind. It then flew to another place and did the same thing again, so I asked Hansen to get up and walk away. The bird remained quite motionless, watching him go, and then ran backwards and forwards and finally stopped still behind a small tuft of grass. After waiting for some minutes I raised my head slightly; the bird instantly flew off and stood watching, but, as it saw nothing moving, it began running about again and settled down in the same spot; then I felt sure I had a nest safe, but to make doubly sure I went through the same performance again, a shower of rain no doubt hastening matters, and this time I distinctly saw the bird shuffle the eggs under it. I jumped up, shot the bird as it ran away, and soon had the pleasure of looking at the first authentic eggs of the curlew sandpiper. The bird, which proved to be the female, remained silent throughout; at one time I thought I heard it make a sound like a dunlin, but, as I afterwards saw dunlins close by, I was probably mistaken.

The next news comes from the Russian explorers who wintered on the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula in 1900-1901. In Doctor Walter's posthumous notes he writes that the curlew sandpiper nested in numbers near his winter quarters. The nests were placed in grassy places and by mid-June (old style) contained full clutches. On the approach of anyone the sitting birds, warned by their mates, left the nests quickly and both birds remained very passive and unobtrusive. Usually a long wait was necessary before the female returned to the nest, and often the watch resulted in failure. Some individuals also wander about in flocks through the breeding season, and later on young and old collect in large flocks and stay till late in the autumn. Doctor Walter collected three clutches of eggs here, and another Russian naturalist, Dr. Katin Jartzew, also took several on Kotelni Island, in the New Siberian Isles, in 1902. Since that date the only information we have received is that furnished by Miss Haviland (Mrs. Brindley), who visited the delta of the Yenesei in 1914. In her account (1915) of her travels she writes:

On July 6, as I was returning from a long round over the tundra that lay in the northern angle of the Yenesei and Golchika Rivers, all at once I saw a little rufous curlew, which was standing on a tussock about 20 yards away, watching me quietly. When I stopped she flew away, but soon alighted again and looked at me. Full of excitement, but still rather skeptical as to the likelihood of finding eggs, I lay down and watched her, but at the end of an hour and a half I could come to no conclusion, for the bird only strolled about and preened herself nonchalantly. I was not even certain of her sex, and her solitude and her quiet behavior made me doubt whether, after all, she might not be a nonbreeding bird. Nevertheless, I marked the place and turned homeward, meaning to come back next day. On the morrow I turned out early and tramped over 8 swampy miles of tundra. The second pair of sandpipers were not to be seen, but the first bird was still pottering round the same spot. To-day she was a little more demonstrative and flew about uneasily. Once she uttered a sharp, anxious note, wick-wick-wick, two or three times repeated. By this time I was convinced that the nest was close at hand, but it was difficult to locate it, for although the bird could dodge me successfully enough behind tussocks of moss only 6 inches high, my person unfortunately was too bulky for these, the only available hiding places. The ground was on a very gradual slope. On the right hand and on the left were two small tarns, still covered with blue ice. In the distance grazed some herds of reindeer, and once a Samoyede sledge glided swiftly over a ridge. Heavy drifts of snow still lay in the sheltered hollow, and the sleet showers that came slapping over the tundra made me glad to wrap myself up in my Burberry coat.

The bird had whirled away round the tarn at my approach, so I hid myself as well as I could behind a tussock and settled down to wait for her return. Twenty minutes passed—half an hour. "It's time she was coming back," thought I, and turned my head carefully to reconnoiter. And lo and behold, not 30 yards behind, the sandpiper stood and studied me contemptuously! She had been watching all the time. "What a fool!" doubtless would have been her comment if she could have spoken. It is no use to try and gull the waders; up to a certain point I believe that they can almost see you think!

I retired abashed to another hiding place about 50 yards farther up the slope. The bird at once showed her appreciation of this move by flying toward the spot where I had first seen her. She was so small that it was very difficult to mark her as she tripped between the tussocks. When I thought that she must be settled on her eggs I jumped up quickly. She took wing at once, but when I went to the place whence she had risen there was no sign of the nest. This happened twice; but as she returned to the same spot each time, I knew that the treasure was there all right and that patience would win it. I marked the bird down by a dodge that I used when looking for gray plover's eggs under similar circumstances and which is described elsewhere; but each time that I flushed her she seemed to jump up from a different place. She was so little and so nimble that she could run over the moss for some yards before she was seen. The next time I gave her ample time to settle down and lay still in the wet, sucking lumps of sugar until I nearly fell asleep. Then all at once a Buffon's skua came overhead, flying low in the squally wind. I snatched my gun and shot him as he flew by, and as he fell I saw the sandpiper spring up from a spot where I had marked her once before. I left the skua and ran up to the place. The bird began to call again and drooped a wing to decoy me away. Half a minute's search and there was the nest at my feet.

Eggs.—The clutch consists of four eggs normally, blunt pyriform in shape with slight gloss. Walter describes the ground as pale yellowish white with greenish tinge and large and small blackish-brown spots, more confluent at large end. There are also a few pale violet-gray shell marks. They are snipelike in character, and the markings are rich and handsome, sometimes ranging to deep rufous brown in color. Their small size, combined with bold type of markings, renders them readily recognizable. The measurements of 20 eggs average 36.26 by 25.67 millimeters, the eggs showing the four extremes measure 39.6 by 25.6, 37.5 by 26.4, 33.3 by 25.3, and 36.6 by 25 millimeters.

Incubation.—The bird which Popham shot from the eggs was a female, but both males and females were obtained from the nests by the Russian ornithologists, so that apparently the duty is shared by both sexes.

Plumages.—The molts and plumages are fully described in "A Practical Handbook of British Birds," edited by H. F. Witherby (1920), to which the reader is referred.

Food.—On its breeding grounds the main food of this species consists of insects. Cordeaux has found remains of Coleoptera and Diptera and their larvae in stomachs. Worms are also freely taken, but on migration it is a coastal species and subsists chiefly on marine forms, such as the small crustacea (Gammaridae) which are found in vast numbers on the shore, minute mollusca, and vegetable matter.

Behavior.—Even in the breeding season this species shows signs of a sociable disposition, several pairs breeding frequently at no great distance apart. When the young are fledged they assemble in flocks before leaving for the south and during the winter months may be found on the mud flats of our estuaries and flat coasts, as well as occasionally on reservoirs and sewage farms inland. During the breeding season it appears to be a silent bird, only a shrill alarm note, wick-wick-wick, being noted, while the shore haunting flocks keep up a long twitter.

Fall.—The migrations of this species are very extensive, reaching over practically the whole of the Old World. To the British Isles it is a passage migrant, arriving from the end of July to late October and occasionally November. In Denmark the old birds are said to arrive in August and the birds of the year in September, leaving in September-October. On the shores of the Baltic it occurs commonly, but seems to avoid the extreme west of Europe on its way south, though passing Tangier in September and occurring in small numbers in Portugal. It is also met with on passage in all the Mediterranean countries, as well as north Africa and passes the Canaries on migration. It ranges on the west side of Africa to Gaboon, Liberia, the Gold Coast, Princes Island, Loango, and south to Cape Province. While on the east side it is recorded from the Nile Valley, the Red Sea, Sudan, Mozambique, Zanzibar, Nyassaland, Madagascar, etc., and it occurs regularly on Mauritius. In Asia it ranges across the continent to the Indian Ocean, the Mekran coast, Sind, Yarkand, India, Ceylon, the Andamans Nicobars, Burmese coast, Malacca Peninsula, Hainan, Formosa, and East China. Further, it has been recorded from the Malay Archipelago, Java, Borneo, New Guinea, the Philippines, Moluccas, and has also been found in Australia (West Australia and New South Wales), Tasmania, and New Zealand. In America there are two Canadian records, one from Toronto and one from Nova Scotia; while in the Eastern States it has occurred in Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Long Island, and has been recorded from Grenada and Carriacou, Lesser Antilles, and also in Patagonia. In Alaska it has once been obtained at Point Barrow.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—The supposed instances of breeding in western Greenland are now discredited, and the only definitely known breeding places are in eastern Siberia, from the delta of the Yenesei to latitude 74° on the Taimyr Peninsula and northward, as well as on the Liakhof Isles and other islands of the New Siberian group.

Spring migration.—Dates: Rio de Oro (N. W. Africa), April 27; Gibraltar, April 24; Egypt, May 8; Barcelona and Santander, May; Malaga, May 9; Corsica, May 7, 8, and 16; Italy, April 1-June 5: Malta, May 7, 12, 13, 27; Greece, April 15, 28, but chiefly May; Corfu, passage lasts till end of May; Transylvania, May 29; Cyprus, May 20, 24; Lake Baikal, May; Allaliabad, May 17; Amoy, China, May 16; Archangel, June 18; Boganida River, May 27; arrives North Taimyr, June 4.

Fall migration.—Dates: Belfast, Ireland, August 25 to end of September; Portugal, September; Italy, September 15-October 30; Cyprus, September 2; Greece, arrives September; Tangier, September; Yarkand, August-September; Karachi, September; Gilgit, August-September; Selangor, August; Mergui Archipelago, November 6; Ceylon, October; Lower Pegu, August; Transvaal, November 24; Natal, October 18.

Casual records.—Aldabra Island, Madagascar, November 6; Madeira, April 30, September 22 and October 7 and November 27. New Zealand, Canterbury, February 3, 1902; April 5, 1903 (2); Otago, March, 1903; Grenada (Wells); Bering Island (Steller). There are several records for this species for North America, some dating back to the earlier days of American ornithology. In some cases the details are indefinite and can not be considered as absolutely trustworthy. Among the occurrences recorded are: Lesser Antilles, Grenada (Cory, 1892), and Carriacou (Clark, 1905); New Jersey, Great Egg Harbor, two in the spring of 1829, Long Beach, Barnegat Bay, July 29, 1904, and Tuckerton and Cape May (Stone, according to C. C. Abbott, 1868); New York, nearly a dozen specimens at Fulton market secured on Long Island (Giraud, 1844), Long Island (?) June 9, 1891; Shinnecock Bay, May 24, 1883; Connecticut, near Hartford, October 3, 1859, New Haven, August 30, 1886, and June, 1874; Massachusetts, Cape Ann, fall of 1865, East Boston, early May, 1866, Nahant, about 1869, Ipswich, about 1875, Cape Cod, about May 10, 1878, and Chatham, August 26, 1889; Maine, Scarboro, September 9, 1875 (?), and Pine Point, September 15, 1881; New Brunswick, Grand Manan; Nova Scotia, Halifax, October, 1864, and September, 1868; Ontario, Toronto, about 1886 (Fleming); and Alaska, Point Barrow, June 6, 1883.

Egg dates.—Full clutches on North Taimyr, June 24; Liakhof Isles, June 24; Taimyr, July 1 (incubated) and July 6 (fresh); Yenesei delta, July 3 and July 7.

EURYNORHYNCHUS PYGMEUS (Linnaeus) SPOON-BILL SANDPIPER

HABITS

This unique little sandpiper has a very restricted breeding range in extreme northeastern Siberia, whence it migrates to southern Asia and wanders very rarely to extreme northwestern Alaska. Joseph Dixon (1918) says: "There are but three specimens claimed to have been taken in North America, as far as known to the author, with some doubt attached to the locality of capture of one of these." He has shown that the bird supposed to have been taken on the Choris Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, by Captain Moore, of the British ship "Plover," was really taken in northeastern Asia in 1849, and that no authentic record for North America has been established since that time until 1914. He says further:

The only well-established occurrence of the spoonbilled sandpiper in America is that vouched for by Fred Granville, of Los Angeles, California, who, on August 15, 1914, took two specimens at Wainwright Inlet, on the Arctic coast of Alaska. One of these specimens, a female, is now number 3552 in the collection of A. B. Howell, of Covina, California, while the other, a male, is number 1698 in the collection of G. Willett, of Los Angeles.

Referring to the capture of these two birds, he quotes from Mr. Granville's letter of January 9, 1918, as follows:

On August 15, 1914, I and my assistant hiked back of Wainwright to what I judged to be a distance of about 10 miles, traveling in a northerly direction. The tundra where I found the spoonbills was interlaced as far as the eye could see with little lagoons and long channels of water, and in this territory I collected the two spoonbills. These birds were shot out of a flock of possibly 10. I followed them for about an hour before I could get a shot at them. The birds would run along the tundra en masse and were undoubtedly gleaning food from the moss. The minute they would catch sight of me they would fly out of shotgun range. There were about six birds that looked to me through field glasses to be in markedly different plumage from the birds I shot. These six birds, immature as I supposed, seemed to be of a solid color, and that a dark gray. On the first shot fired, with which I got two, the birds flew across a lake and I lost track of them, though I spent four or five hours looking for some more. I believe that these birds breed in the neighborhood of Wainwright and hope that at some close future date some one will bear out my statement.

Spring.—There is an adult male in nuptial plumage in the British Museum, which was taken at Shanghai, China, in April. The only other information we have about the spring migration is the following brief statement by Dr. E. W. Nelson (1883):

On the northeast coast of Siberia Nordenskiold records this bird as occurring in such numbers that on two occasions in spring it was served upon their mess table on board the "Vega" while they were lying frozen in at their winter quarters. It arrived in spring at Tapkau, with the first bare spots, early in June, and disappeared in July. To the westward, in the same vicinity, during the summer of 1881, I saw several of these birds, and at Plover Bay, on the Bering Sea shore of the same coast, secured a fine adult female in breeding plumage, taken on June 26. Nothing peculiar was observed in its habits, and I approached the bird without difficulty or its showing the slightest concern as it stood on the flat at that place. The bird was first seen feeding in the shallow water at the edge of a pool, and then stood with its head drawn back and without paying the slightest attention to me until it was shot.

Courtship.—Mr. Dixon (1918) has made a thorough study of this species and has given us a fine account of its interesting song flight, illustrated by a diagram, from which I quote, as follows:

The song and nuptial flight of the male spoonbill, attractive as they were to the collector, in sight of such rare birds at last, were as elusive as a will-o'-the-wisp. In fact we were never able to locate a female spoonbill on the nest, and I have always believed that our lack of success in this regard was due to the warning given by the male. Upon approaching the nest site, while we were yet afar off, we were greeted by the male in full song. This song, ventriloquial, pulsating, and cicadalike in quality, seemed to come first from one and then from another point in the heaven above. Sometimes we searched the sky altogether in vain, but usually the bird was discovered in rapid flight at an altitude of two or three hundred feet above the earth. The nuptial flight consists of momentary poises alternating with rapid dips. When the bird hovers or poises, the rapid beating of the wings is accompanied by a fine, rhythmical, pulsating, buzzing trill, zee-e-e, zee-e-e, zee-e-e, rapidly repeated. Following this the bird approaches the intruder, swinging down in a sharp curve until 10 feet lower than the previous hovering point, where he again poises on rapidly beating wings, pouring forth anew his insistent, musical trill. After repeating this performance four or five times the songster sweeps down in a long graceful curve until he almost touches the earth near his brooding mate, then curving off, he turns and rises rapidly and almost perpendicularly until almost out of sight. From this new point of vantage the whole performance is repeated. After four or five such excursions, in each of which the intruder is approached from a different direction, the guardian of the nest descends by raising his wings nearly vertically until they form in anterior outline the letter V. The bird thus gliding on motionless wings drops lightly but quickly to earth, uttering the zee-e-e in a richer yet more subdued tone. As soon as he touches the earth the song ceases and the silent bird trots quietly off over the moss, where his trim form blends with the lichen and mossy tussocks, so that, upon remaining motionless, he disappears with amazing rapidity. Time and time again we thus lost sight of the birds, which we later discovered by the aid of binoculars to be standing or squatting motionless within 50 feet of us. Although this "fading out" method of exit is commonly employed by many shore birds, in the case of the spoonbilled sandpiper it seems to have been developed to an extreme degree.

Nesting.—To F. E. Kleinschmidt is due the credit for finding the first nest of the spoonbill sandpiper near Cape Serdze, northeastern Siberia, on July 15, 1910. The nest and the four eggs, which were nearly hatched, are now in the collection of Col. John E. Thayer. The following extract from Captain Kleinschmidt's letter in regard to it was published by Colonel Thayer (1911):

I was in hopes that I could get five or six clutches of the spoonbills, so I took all kinds of chances with my boat in the ice on the Siberian coast. I found, however, but one set of eggs and they were just ready to hatch. The male is the parent bird of the eggs, but the female belongs to neither eggs nor downies, simply because the habits of this sandpiper are similar to those of the phalarope. The male has to stay at home, keep house, and attend to the young, while the female thinks she has done all that is necessary by merely fulfilling the duties nature demands of her, namely, the laying of the eggs. I shot the female in close proximity of the nest, but we never found a female with the downies. It was always the male. Although our observations were limited to but a few, still I believe the male solely attends to the hatching and the rearing of the young. The female also is larger than the male. The nest as well as the downies were found on the gentle slope of the tundra, bordering small fresh-water ponds. The nest was a rounded hollow in the moss, thickly lined with dry willow leaves. The downies blend so perfectly with the color of the moss that the closest scrutiny will scarcely reveal their hiding place.

Mr. Dixon (1918) found a nest, with two fresh eggs, near Providence Bay, Siberia, on June 22, 1913, and one, with three young just hatched, near Cape Serdze, on July 17, 1913. Regarding his experience with it, he writes:

The two nests of this bird that came under the author's observation were discovered through flushing the brooding male. The birds were very shy, and as there was no cover other than a thin growth of grass about 6 inches high approach by stealth was difficult. The birds usually sneaked off while the observer was 40 or 50 yards distant, and in order to find the nest it was necessary to hide, as best one could, near the place where the sandpiper had flushed, until it returned again to the nest. In one instance a depression partly filled with water was the only available hiding place. Fortunately for the watcher the water was not cold and the male bird returned in 12 minutes to the nest, which contained two fresh eggs. The nest of this sandpiper was found to be merely a cavity scratched out among the dead grass blades. It was a shallow affair placed where the grass grew thickest. On June 22, 1913, at Providence Bay, the writer witnessed the construction of a nest from a distance of about 40 feet. The bird, a male, scratched and then picked at the dead and matted grass blades and moss until he had dug out quite a hole. Then he squatted down in the depression and twisted about, pressing against the moss that formed the sides of the nest, until a cavity about 3½ inches in diameter and an inch deep was formed. Dead leaves from a creeping Arctic willow that grew in the moss near-by were used to line the nest.

There are two sets of eggs, one of three and one of two, in the United States National Museum, taken by Louis L. Lane, at Cape Serdze in June, 1912, but no further data came with them.

Eggs.—The small sets referred to above were probably incomplete; doubtless four eggs is the normal set. The six eggs in the Thayer collection are subpyriform in shape and have a slight gloss. The ground color is uniform in all of them; it is between "cinnamon buff" and "dark olive buff," or a warm shade of the latter. Three eggs are finely speckled all over, only a little more thickly at the larger end, with light browns, "tawny" and "snuff brown"; one egg is heavily blotched at the larger end with "Verona brown" and "warm sepia," and only sparingly spotted elsewhere.

J. H. Riley tells me that the eggs taken by Louis Lane vary in ground color from a warm tint of "dark olive buff" to "deep olive buff." The set of two is rather evenly but not heavily marked over the surface with small blotches, dots, and scrawls of two shades of "bister," with a few shell markings of "drab" here and there over the surface. One egg of the set has the "bister" markings larger and thicker on the large end. The other set has the spots larger and heavier at the large end, and in two eggs they are darker, "clove brown" or even "blackish brown." The shape is subpyriform.

The measurements of these 11 eggs average 30.4 by 21.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 33 by 22.8, 30.5 by 23.3, 28.7 by 20.8, and 29.3 by 20.3 millimeters.

Young.—Regarding incubation and care of the young, Mr. Dixon (1918) writes:

Regarding the time required for incubation, we have only circumstantial evidence to offer, but our observations lead us to believe that about 18 or 20 days elapse between the time the last egg is laid and the first young hatched. The most striking fact in the domestic life of the spoonbilled sandpiper is that the major portion of the household duties, aside from the actual laying of the eggs, is performed by the male and not the female bird. In addition to our own observations, Kleinschmidt also has found this to be the case. In the author's experience, none of the several females taken were found on or within 50 feet of the nest. It is possible, however, that they may have been warned by the male birds and had sneaked off before we were close enough to detect their leaving. In the unequal division of domestic duties conditions among the spoonbills are similar to those among the phalaropes, where the male, after he has been courted and won by the larger and more brilliant female, takes upon himself almost all of the household cares. However, in the case of the spoonbilled sandpiper there is nothing to show that the female does the courting, although she is the larger of the two. The female spoonbill is thus seemingly content to merely lay the eggs, while she lets the male build the nest, incubate the eggs, and take care of the young. In corroboration of the latter statements, the author observed a male bird building a nest at Providence Bay, Siberia, June 22, 1913; another male was flushed repeatedly from a nest containing two fresh eggs near the same place, on the same day, while a third male was found tending three downy young at Cape Serdze, Siberia, on July 17, 1913.

On July 17, 1913, at Cape Serdze, Siberia, while strolling along the spongy green turf beside a fresh-water pond, my attention was attracted by the "broken wing" antics of a spoonbilled sandpiper. Although my eyes remained "glued" on the spot from which the bird arose, no nest or sign of young could be found when I reached the place. Soon a second bird, presumably the female, arrived on the scene. Both appeared much concerned, and from their actions I felt sure that there were young near by. A careful search of the short grass, which was not over 2 inches high, failed to reveal any living creature. I therefore retired to a grassy mound about 20 yards away and awaited developments. Both parent birds, giving their alarm notes, circled about overhead, where they were soon joined by a pair each of Eastern least and Temminck's stints. The two pairs of stints were later found to have broods of downy young in the grass on the opposite shore of the lagoon near by. Soon both spoonbills flew off across the lagoon and disappeared, but the male returned promptly, alighting quietly near the margin of the pond. Here he stood motionless for nearly a minute, and then trotted through the grass directly to the spot from which I had first flushed him. At this point he stood still for another full minute, during which time he looked all around, seemingly to make sure that the coast was clear. Having satisfied himself that no active enemy was in sight he stepped forward and bending over uttered a soft call in a low tone, plee-plee-plee. This call was repeated a second time, and instantly there arose directly in front of him a tiny mouse-like brown form, seemingly rising from out of the very ground. With tottering unsteady steps the downy young sandpiper stumbled and fell toward the parent, who continued calling and encouraging it. Upon my sudden appearance the old bird gave a quick warning note and at this signal the youngster squatted motionless with neck stretched forward on the ground. Although I knew the exact spot where it disappeared, it was some time before I was able to locate the tiny form, so well did it blend with the clump of reddish moss upon which it had squatted. A careful search revealed no other young sandpipers, so I returned to my hiding place. This time I had to wait longer for the male to return, and while I was waiting a second sandpiper, which I believed to be the female, arrived but did not go near or call the young. Two or three minutes elapsed this time between the return of the male and the giving of the low call notes, when, as before, another downy young quickly arose at the signal and toddled over to its parent. After this second experience I was forced to change my hiding place, as the male sandpiper refused to return to the young until I moved. He seemed much concerned upon this last visit, probably realizing that it was high time the young should be hovered and warmed.