Chapter XI: Introduction (10)

A search for the nest will exhaust the patience of any except the
most persistent collector. Messrs. Compton and Partch have been
more successful than anyone else in locating them, and all of us
agree that when a bird flies to meet the visitor, as just
described, it is a pure waste of time to watch or follow it. Every
method known to us of locating nests by watching the actions of
the parents has failed. We have located nests and then endeavored
to establish rules for guidance with others, but no definite facts
could be determined. It was finally agreed that it was useless to
watch a bird under any circumstances more than 15 minutes. If the
location of the nest is not disclosed in that time, it is safe to
assume that the mate is on it, and it might be hours before the
guard would go there. In the meantime it may fly half a mile away
and forget to come back, even to tease the hopeful collector lying
concealed in the mist and fog behind some cheerless rock. No
definite range can be ascribed to any one pair of birds, because
those off the nests mingle indiscriminately. Very often a bird
will fly completely out of the range of vision in the fog.

The action of a bird leaving a nest is unmistakable, and can
always be recognized, once it is learned. It is a quick, excited,
jerky flight, very close to the ground, and the bird goes but a
very few yards until it feigns injury in its endeavor to entice
the intruder away. It will always flutter in front of a person,
even though he walk directly toward the nest. When the bird is
seen to fly, the eggs are even more inconspicuous and difficult to
find unless the exact spot from which it flew be located. Compton
thus flushed a bird which he knew had a nest, but he was at a loss
to find it. At last he left his cane as nearly as possible where
the nest should have been and repaired to a near-by rock to watch
and wait. In a few minutes the bird returned to the eggs, which
were located about a yard from the stick. When the bird is flushed
from a nest it seldom happens that the other parent is near.

The nest is a mere depression about three and a half inches wide by
two and a half inches deep. Most of the material is removed, but it
is evidently packed down to a certain extent. No foreign material
is carried at all. The nest is usually, but not necessarily, on
some very slightly elevated ground and among the lichens called
"reindeer moss." Some nests have been found where there was an
admixture of _Hypnum_ moss and again where the dwarf willows creep,
rootlike, beneath the surface.

_Eggs._--I can not do better than to quote again from Mr. Hanna (1921); he writes:

The normal set of eggs consists of four. A greater number has never
been found, and a less number only when it was uncertain if the
full set had been laid. As much as three days may intervene between
egg laying, but usually the four are deposited on successive days.
When one set of eggs is taken, another will be laid. But the same
nest is not used the second time, the contentions of some natives
to the contrary notwithstanding. A set of eggs found as late as
July 24, 1917, certainly indicated that two may be laid in the same
season on rare occasions. One set is the rule.

The color of the eggs is, as would be expected, somewhat variable.
The lightest set examined in connection with this report has the
ground color "greenish glaucous." From this there is perfect
gradation through "court gray" and "light olive gray" to "deep
olive buff" in the darkest set. Variation in any particular set is
very slight. Spots are large and bold as a rule. They vary in size
from 15 millimeters to less than one, and they are usually massed
about the larger end. In one case the eggs are uniformly spotted
with small spots all over. In none is the spotting heaviest on the
smaller end (reversed eggs). Spots are usually inclined to be
round, but occasionally they are in the form of streaks arranged
roughly in spiral form. Only rarely are they banded about the
larger end. In two cases a narrow black line was produced spirally
on the larger end. The coloration of the spots varies from "snuff
brown" to "sepia" and from "cinnamon brown" to "mummy brown." In
some cases they are "raw umber." The darkest shades occur where
the spots overlap and some deep-seated ones are "pale aniline
lilac" or "pale" to "deep quaker drab." Only rarely is the outline
of a spot not sharp.

The average dimensions derived from the above series of 72 eggs
are: Length, 39.473 and breadth 27.468. Those which showed the
extreme measurements were =42.0= by 27.8; =35= by 27.4; 37.6 by
=39=, and 39.1 by =26.4.=

_Young._--The period of incubation is said to be about 20 days, in which both sexes share. William Palmer (1899) says:

The young leave the nest soon after hatching and are thoroughly
well concealed by their mimicry of the confusing mixture of mosses,
lichens, and other forms of vegetation which abounds and are so
well intermingled on these islands. It requires much patience and a
close scrutiny to detect a crouching young, even when it is
directly within reach. Obedient to their mother's cries they
flatten themselves with head and neck extended; with each yard of
the ground precisely similar in pattern and color with every other
yard, and the parents, especially the female, trying their best to
coax us in other directions, and the uncertainty as to the exact
location of the young, all combine against the collector, so that
few specimens reward a tramp that seems exasperatingly needless.
The young will not move, though one stands with the foot touching
them, but when once handled and released they scamper off with all
the quickness their long legs can give them. When we invade the
vicinity of a nest or young it is amusing to watch the antics of
the female. She invariably flies in front and flutters with feigned
lameness but a few feet away. If the ground is rough it is more
amusing to watch the precipitancy of her flight until she
disappears in a hollow, to reappear in a moment on the other side,
cautiously turning round and eying us to see if we are following.
She always keeps in front of us, no matter which way we turn, and
will continue thus for several hundred yards, when she will
suddenly fly off to some distance and after waiting awhile will
return to the vicinity of the nest or young.

Mr. Hanna (1921) writes:

So far as known, the food of both old and young consists of beetles
and flies while the birds remain on the highlands; when they move
to the ponds and seashores they eat copepods, amphipods, etc. As
soon as the young birds are well able to fly they resort to the
tide pools and small ponds near the sea. Later the older birds join
them and the flocks increase in size to several hundred in
favorable places. This takes place in August and September in such
localities as the Salt Lagoon of St. Paul Island.

_Plumages._--The color pattern of the downy young Pribilof sandpiper is similar to that of the Aleutian, but the colors are different, much duller. The bright browns and buffs of the upper parts are replaced by "burnt umber," "snuff brown," "clay color," and "cinnamon buff," and the black markings are largely replaced by dark browns; the black patch in the center of the back is about as in the Aleutian. The under parts are less pure white, always suffused with pale buff on the throat and flanks and sometimes largely so on the breast also.

Mr. Palmer's (1899) studies of the molts and plumages indicate that they are similar to those of the Aleutian sandpiper; he writes:

The downy young are beautiful little things, silvery white beneath,
bright, rich ocherous above, variegated with black and dots of
white. The general color above lacks the grayness of the similar
age of _maritimus_. The white dots are interesting under the
microscope. They are composed of a bunch of highly specialized
down, in which the radii near the tip are crowded and colorless. As
they grow older the first feathers appear on the sides of the
breast, on the back and scapulars; then the primaries and larger
wing coverts appear. The feathering continues until the breast and
under parts are covered, when the tail appears. At this time there
are no feathers on the rump or on the head or neck. In the next
stage feathers have appeared on the occiput and on the auriculars
and are also extending up the neck. At the same time the tips of
the back feathers have become somewhat worn, so that the colored
margins are narrower and the black more prominent. The wing coverts
are also to some extent worn on their tips. When the bill is an
inch long the down has nearly all disappeared, and when it has
entirely gone the birds appear in small flocks on the beaches, the
young generally keeping together. Then another change takes place,
for the entire plumage now gives way to another, that in which the
bird passes the winter. A few late July, immature birds show the
beginning, for No. 118832, im. [male], July 29, has a few new
feathers on the middle of the back and on the scapulars. They soon
extend all over the back, so that specimens collected up to August
10 have many of the new whitish feathers on that region.

The contrast is striking between these feathers, the latest being
of an almost even shade of pale plumbean with darker centers and
generally with a narrow white margin. There are no specimens to
show the complete change, but it is probable that these young birds
remain on the islands until it is completed. By the middle of June
the adults have fully changed to the breeding plumage, but on some
specimens a few feathers of the previous winter's plumage persist
much later. Thus on many specimens some alternate feathers of the
scapulars and tertials are of the previous winter's well-worn
plumage. In fact, few specimens are free from these old feathers.
Soon after the middle of July the new plumage of the next winter
begins to appear. At first a few feathers show about the breast,
then on the scapulars, thence up the neck and over the head, so
that by the 10th of August they have changed one-half. It would
thus appear that before this species leaves the islands they assume
entirely their new dress. And at this season, August 10, old and
young flock together for the first time, and confine themselves to
the sand beaches and surf margins about the islands for a few
weeks, when they take flight by the 1st or 5th of September, and
disappear until the opening of the new season.

The Pribilof sandpiper is much paler in the juvenal plumage and grayer in the winter plumage than the Aleutian.

_Food._--Preble and McAtee (1923) report on the contents of 192 stomachs, as follows:

The articles of food composing more than 1 per cent of the total
were: Mollusks, 32.63 per cent; crustaceans, 29.15 per cent; flies
(Diptera), 23.49 per cent; beetles, 10.29 per cent; marine worms,
1.27 per cent; and vegetable matter, chiefly algae, 1.21 per cent.
The vegetable matter, besides algae, included bits of moss and a
few seeds of grass, lupine, violet, crowberry, and bottle brush.

_Behavior._--Referring to the habits of Pribilof sandpipers, Mr. Palmer (1899) says:

They appear stupid when solitary and without a family, and will
stand perfectly still, eying one from a little eminence.
Occasionally we are startled by a loud _druuett_ from the side of a
sand dune, and I was at a loss for some time to discover the owner
of this most unmusical sound, which finally turned out to be an
individual of this species standing motionless and watching us. It
would seem impossible for this sound to have issued from this bird
if I had not seen it in the act. These sandpipers have the habit in
common with others of their kind of suddenly elevating the wing
directly over the back. Often when alighting on the tundra, as soon
as they stopped up went one wing, followed soon after, perhaps, by
the other. Often while watching a flock on the lagoon beach first
one would elevate a wing, then another; it was always the near wing
which went up first. I never saw a bird elevate the off wing first.
I know of no reason for their doing so. They are tame. I have
walked up to a flock of about 50, and with care could drive them
before me for some distance before they took flight, being but a
few feet away. They are often seen feeding in the water up to their
breasts, and seem to take delight in it. They swim readily, but not
often. On June 30 I saw one fly out to a stone in a pool, and after
gathering all the food possible it deliberately swam to another,
and having visited each stone in the same way flew back to the
shore and then bathed itself, occasionally taking a swim.

_Voice._--Mr. Hanna (1921) describes the notes of this bird as follows:

If a person climbs to the sandpiper country on St. George during
May or June one of his first surprises will be a series of notes
very much like those of the flicker, a full deep whistle repeated
in the same pitch about a dozen times in quick succession. The bird
utters this while on the wing, most likely when it is coming toward
the intruder with great speed. When close by it wheels and settles
lightly on a near-by hummock or "niggerhead." One wing will be held
vertically extended for a few seconds after alighting and may be
flashed at short intervals thereafter. Another note for which I
have no descriptive language always reminded me of the sound of
tree frogs. It is the note usually given when the birds are on the
ground. While neither can be called a song they are very attractive
and pleasant to the listener and most surprising to one familiar
with the "peep peep" of sandpipers in winter.

_Field marks._--In winter the Pribilof sandpiper looks much like the purple sandpiper; it frequents similar haunts and has much the same habits. But its summer plumage, with its rufous upper parts and mottled under parts, is strikingly different. It resembles the Aleutian sandpiper in all plumages, but it is decidedly larger and, in summer, its upper parts are lighter rufous and there is more white in the under parts.

_Fall._--According to Preble and McAtee (1923):

About the middle of July, when the nesting birds are freed from
family cares, they begin to resort to the beaches to feed, and at
night gather in flocks to roost on some favorite rocky point. Later
the young join the adults and the flocks increase in size through
August. About August 9 the birds began to be common about the
beaches, the flocks there apparently being in excess of the number
breeding on the islands, and in all probability, therefore,
comprised in part of migrants from other breeding stations. They
continued to be abundant until my departure on the last of August.

The Pribilof sandpiper is too rare and beautiful to be treated as a game bird, but Mr. Hanna (1921) writes:

The birds possess some economic importance to the natives of the
Pribilofs, and they have occasionally been eaten in the officers'
messes. Their habit of congregating in fairly compact flocks and
their fearless unassuming nature make them easy targets. For this
reason close watch should be kept of the numbers returning
annually, and should any noticeable diminution take place strict
prohibitive measures can and should be invoked. This is possible
because the islands are under strict governmental control as
regards all wild life. Because of its limited range it would not be
a difficult matter to completely exterminate the species. Special
protective measures at this time, however, are not believed to be
essential because there is even less hunting now than there has
been for fifty or more years. The introduction of livestock and
reindeer for fresh food removes in large measure the necessity for
shooting, and the native is ordinarily too indolent to hunt unless
he has to do so for food.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Known only from the islands in Bering Sea and the coast of Alaska.

_Breeding range._--The Pribilof sandpiper breeds on the Pribilof Islands (St. Paul and St. George Islands) and north in Bering Sea to St. Matthew Island, Hall Island, and St. Lawrence Island.

_Winter range._--The winter range is imperfectly known, but it has been taken in this season at Portage Bay, Alaska, and probably occupies much of the Alaskan coast southeastward to (rarely) the Lynn Canal.

_Migration._--They have been noted in spring to arrive at St. Paul Island March 5; Nushagak, Alaska, April 1 to 14; St. George Island April 23; at St. Paul Island April 24; and Point Dall, Alaska, May 23.

Late departures in the fall have been observed at St. George Island, October 3; and St. Paul Island November 16.

Early fall arrivals have been noted on the Alaskan coast at Igiak Bay, July 23; Tigalda Island, August 5; Unimak, August 14; and Dexter, Norton Sound, August 29.

_Egg dates._--Pribilof Island: 32 records, May 6 to July 2; 16 records, May 30 to June 11.

ARQUATELLA PTILOCNEMIS COUESI (Ridgway)

ALEUTIAN SANDPIPER

HABITS

I prefer the above scientific name to the Check List name, because I can not believe that the Aleutian sandpiper is a subspecies of the purple sandpiper. The Aleutian sandpiper was originally described by Robert Ridgway (1880) as a distinct species. Later it was treated, and still stands on our Check List, as a subspecies of the purple sandpiper, because it somewhat resembles it in its winter plumage. In Mr. Ridgway's (1919) latest work, he treats it as a subspecies of the Pribilof sandpiper, a closely related form, which had been previously described; he there describes it as "similar to _A. p. ptilocnemis_ but decidedly smaller and much darker in color; the summer plumage with blackish and rusty or cinnamon-rufous predominating on back and scapulars, and all the colors much darker and more extended. Very similar in winter plumage to _A. maritima_, but summer plumage and young very different, both being conspicuously marked with rusty on back and scapulars, and the summer plumage with breast conspicuously blotched or clouded with dusky."

Among a series of 11 birds of this species, which we collected on Attu Island, at the extreme western end of the Aleutian Chain, on June 23, 1911, are two birds which closely resemble _ptilocnemis_ in color, but in size are typical of _couesi_. At least one of them was a breeding bird, the parent of a brood of downy young, and doubtless both of them were summer resident birds. Dr. Ernst Hartert (1920) has described the resident bird of the Commander Islands as a distinct subspecies, under the name _Erolia maritima quarta_, of which he says: "In full summer plumage the feather-edgings are broader than in any other form and brighter, more rusty red, so that the rusty red seems to predominate on the whole of the upper parts." This description seems to fit our two birds from Attu Island very well; so that, if _quarta_ is a recognizable form, as it seems to be, this subspecies should be added to our North American list. The birds could easily fly across from the Commander Islands to Attu Island and establish themselves there.

_Spring._--The spring migration of this sandpiper is not extensive. Many birds have remained all winter on or near their breeding grounds in the Aleutian Islands; others have wintered along the coast as far south as Washington. D. E. Brown tells me that they remain on Destruction Island until May 1 and that they have been seen on Forrester Island as late as June 15. H. S. Swarth (1911) found them "very abundant" on Kuiu Island during his stay there from April 25 to May 6; he writes:

In company with the black turnstone and some other waders, they
frequented the broad mud flats, which, at low tide, extend over
hundreds of acres at this point. As the tide advanced their feeding
grounds became more and more restricted, until, as the last
available spot was covered, the whole flock departed, with roar of
wings, to some jutting rocks at the mouth of the bay, there to
remain, preening their plumage and resting, until the receding
waters again exposed the mud banks. The flocks seen at this place
comprised many hundred individuals, and it is curious that the
species was observed absolutely nowhere else.

Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes from Hooper Bay:

The Aleutian sandpiper is a common transient visitor in the
vicinity of Point Dall and is said by the natives to be a breeding
bird in the mountain fastnesses of Cape Romanzoff. This species was
first identified by us on May 18, but it may have arrived a few
days earlier because up to that time we did not suspect its
presence. It associated itself with the red-backed sandpiper, to
which in the field it has a marked superficial resemblance and in
consequence we may have overlooked it. These birds at that time
travelled in bands of from 20 to 40 individuals and at low tide fed
on the ice-bound sea beach that was then exposed, but when the high
water came in and up to the wall of shore ice, thus covering their
feeding grounds, they moved back along the open river margins and
marshy pond borders. From May 23 to May 28 they were very common,
when suddenly they departed, only to reappear in early July. The
natives are very positive in their assertions that this island
dweller breeds in the rugged mountains about Cape Romanzoff, but as
we did not visit that area we could not authenticate their
statements, nor did we learn anything of its nidification.

Lucien M. Turner (1886) writes:

The Aleutian sandpiper arrives at St. Michaels early in May of each
year, and in considerable numbers, being generally, on their
arrival, in the dark plumage, which is changed for the summer by
the first of June on this locality. On their appearance they are
strictly littoral-maritime, resorting to the larger bowlders and
rocky shelves covered with seaweed, among which these birds
industriously search for slugs and other marine worms. Usually
several birds are together, rarely singly, and seldom over 8 or 10
in a flock.

Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885) says that, in the Commander Islands:

In March their ranks are reinforced by newcomers which have
wintered on more hospitable shores, and in the latter part of the
month enormous flocks of 500 or more swarm along the beach,
especially on the north shore. About one month later the great
flocks dissolve into small companies, which, following the water
courses, disperse over the whole island, settling in pairs on
suitable places at the beaches, on the tundras, or on the mountain
plateaus, this bird being in fact one of the most numerous and the
most equally distributed species of land birds on the islands.

_Courtship._--We frequently observed the charming song flight of this sandpiper in the Aleutian Islands. The birds were especially abundant on Tanaga Island, where we found them nesting on the little knolls or hummocks on the tundra in a large alluvial plain back of the beach hillocks. The males were very active and noisy, indulging in their hovering song flights, rising 30 or 40 feet in the air and fluttering down while pouring out a delightful twittering song. Also, while flying about or while standing on some prominent hummock, they gave their loud, musical melodious calls of the upland plover; these loud notes were not heard anywhere except on their breeding grounds and were probably notes of greeting or of warning to their mates. Doctor Stejneger (1885) writes:

It was in the late afternoon of the 28th of April, 1883, that I
first witnessed this singing performance of the sandpiper. The bird
rose from the _Rhododendron_ tundra on the northern slope of
Kamennij Valley, and while flying about on quivering wings,
sometimes remaining quite still in the air, it uttered a loud,
agreeable, and melodious twitter, which really must be called a
"song," whereupon, with outstretched wings, it descended obliquely,
seating itself upon the top of a tussock. Sitting there, with
puffed plumage and pendant wings, it produced a loud "bleating," so
much like that of _Gallinago gallinago_ as to completely convince
me that the analogous note of the latter is produced by the throat
in exactly the same manner. During the "bleating" the whole bird
was quivering with a tremulous motion as if in a high state of
excitement. The voice was slightly more melodious than that of the
snipe.

_Nesting._--While wandering over the foothills of Kiska Island on June 17, 1911, I found my first nest of the Aleutian sandpiper. I was crossing a flat place, high up on a hill, covered with moss and scanty growth of grass, when the bird fluttered off almost underfoot, feigning lameness. The nest was a deep hollow in the moss, 3 inches in diameter and fully 2 inches deep, partially concealed by a few blades of scanty grass, and lined with dead leaves, a few straws, and a few feathers of the bird. The four eggs were only slightly incubated. I found a similar nest, containing three small, downy young, on Attu Island on June 23; the nest was on a little hummock on a hillside, a deep hollow, lined with dead leaves and bits of straw. It was the male bird that flew from the nest in both cases.

Austin H. Clark (1910) found a nest on Attu Island on the side of a mountain, 700 feet or more above the valley and near an extensive patch of snow. Alfred M. Bailey (1925) found a nest at Emma Harbor, Siberia, on July 4, 1921, containing three young and an egg; the nest was "on the shores of the bay, in gravel along the beach." He also found several nests the following season near Wales, Alaska; "the nesting sites varied from exposed depressions in the moss to well-concealed dried grass." A set of eggs in Edward Arnold's collection, taken by Sheldon and Lamont on Montague Island, Alaska, June 22, 1916, came from a nest "on débris just above tidewater."

_Eggs._--The Aleutian sandpiper almost invariably lays four eggs, although five have been found. These are ovate pyriform in shape and have a slight gloss. The ground color is "olive buff" or "deep olive buff." They are heavily, boldly, and irregularly blotched, chiefly about the larger end, with a few scattering smaller spots. The markings are in dark browns, "chestnut brown," "burnt umber," and "seal brown," varying with the thickness of the pigment. There are underlying blotches of "brownish drab," producing very handsome eggs. They can not always be distinguished with certainty from eggs of the Pribilof sandpiper, as they vary greatly in size; they average smaller, but the measurements overlap widely. The measurements of 50 eggs average 38 by 26.6 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =43.2= by 26.8, 39.4 by =28=, =35= by 26.3, and 37.3 by =24.1= millimeters.

_Young._--Incubation is apparently performed by both sexes, and both assist in the care of the young. The birds that I flushed from my two nests, one with eggs and one with young, both proved to be males. Mr. Turner (1886) says:

The males are much devoted to their mates while incubating, and I
have every reason to believe that the male does the greater part of
the labor of incubating, as they were the ones generally found
either on or near the nests. When alighting near the nest either
sex has the habit of raising its wings perpendicularly and slowly
folding them, all the while uttering a trilling peep, continued for
several seconds.

The parents are very devoted to their young, employing the usual tactics to divert the attention of the intruder, stumbling and fluttering over the ground, as if both legs and wings were broken. The young leave the nest as soon as they are strong enough to run, but remain with their parents until they are fully fledged in their first winter or juvenal plumage and ready to fly in August.

_Plumages._--The downy young Aleutian resembles, in color pattern, the young purple sandpiper, but can easily be recognized by its warmer and richer browns. The upper half of the head is "warm buff," shading off to "pale buff" on the lores and cheeks and to pure white on the throat and neck. A median black stripe is broad on the crown, tapering to a point at the bill; loral and malar black stripes converge at the bill; the rest of the upper head is spotted or striped with black. The nape is a mixture of dull buff and dusky. The back, wings, and thighs are variegated with black, "ochraceous tawny" and "warm buff," everywhere sprinkled with conspicuous dots, terminal tufts, of buffy white in an irregular pattern; there is a more or less well-defined black patch in the center of the back, varying in different individuals, centrally veiled with "burnt sienna" tips. The entire under parts are pure white.

In the juvenal plumage the center of the crown is blackish brown, with "ochraceous tawny" edgings; the rest of the crown and nape are "deep mouse gray"; the feathers of the back are brownish black, broadly edged with "tawny" or "ochraceous tawny"; the scapulars and all the wing coverts are deep sepia, broadly edged with colors varying from "tawny" to buffy white, whitest on the coverts; the under parts are white, with a broad band of pale buff across the throat and breast; the flanks are somewhat tinged with the same color; the throat, breast, and flanks are more or less heavily marked with median dusky streaks. This plumage is worn through July and part, or all, of August. The postjuvenal molt of the body plumage begins in some birds about the 1st of August, but in others not until two or three weeks later. This produces a first winter plumage similar to that of the adult, but distinguishable by the faded juvenal wing coverts and a few retained scapulars and tertials.

The partial prenuptial molt of both young birds and adults comes rather late in the spring, April and May, and involves the body plumage and some of the wing coverts and scapulars. Adults also have a complete postnuptial molt, beginning in August and lasting until October. The winter plumage is similar to that of the purple sandpiper, but it is conspicuously marked on the breast and flanks with large triangular or circular spots of dusky, whereas the purple sandpiper usually has a plain gray breast in winter.

_Food._--Very little seems to be known about the food of the Aleutian sandpiper, but probably its diet is very similar to that of the purple sandpiper, which has similar feeding habits. Both species are fond of frequenting rocky shores and stony beaches, where they seem to be gleaning food. Doctor Stejneger (1885) has seen them "at low water eagerly picking up Gammarids among the stones close to the breakers." Bernard J. Bretherton (1896) writes:

Large flocks of these birds were seen during February, 1893, but
were not met with during other winters. They were met with on a low
sand bar, after a protracted storm which had thrown up millions of
sand fleas, upon which they were feeding so industriously as to be
easily approached and to which feast they returned several times,
even after their ranks had been thinned by raking charges of fine
shot.

_Behavior._--In many ways the Aleutian sandpiper reminds one of its near relative, the purple sandpiper, but it is even tamer, less suspicious, and quieter in its movements. We had plenty of chances to get acquainted with it in the Aleutian Islands. We met it, and collected the first specimen of it, on the first island that we landed on, Akun Island, and after that we saw it on every island we visited, though it was much more abundant on the more western islands. These bleak islands, with their forbidding, rocky shores and stony beaches, washed with cold spray or enveloped in chilly fog, are the summer home of this hardy little "beach snipe," as it is called by the natives. It moves about so quietly and deliberately, and its colors match its surroundings so well, that we were constantly coming upon it unexpectedly. It was usually so intent on feeding that it paid no attention to passers-by; it was often necessary to back off to a reasonable distance before shooting one, and I shot several with squib charges in an auxiliary barrel. It is the tamest and most unsuspicious shore bird I have ever seen. On this point Mr. Turner (1886) says:

It is not at all shy, depending more on its color to hide by
squatting among the crevices of the dark lava rocks and thus be
unobserved. When cautiously approached, these birds generally run
to the highest part of the rock or bowlder which they are on, then
huddle together before taking flight the moment after. This habit
allows them to be nearly all killed at a single discharge of the
gun. The native boys, having observed this habit of these birds,
procure a club about two feet long, and when the birds huddle
together before taking flight the club is hurled in such manner as
to sweep all the birds off the rock. This manner of procuring these
birds is practiced by the western Aleut boys to a great degree.

Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) writes:

A pair were found feeding on a series of bare, jagged rocks, over
which the spray flew in a dense cloud as every wave beat at the
foot of the rocky shore. I shot one of them, and the survivor
merely flew up and stood eyeing me silently from the top of a low
cliff 20 or 25 feet overhead until it, too, fell a victim. Later in
the day another was seen near the border of a small lake in the
interior of the island. It ran nimbly on before me, over the mossy
hillocks, stopping every few feet and half turning to watch my
movements, just as a spotted sandpiper would do under the
circumstances. When driven to take wing, it flew a short distance,
with the same peculiar down-curved wings and style of flight as has
the spotted sandpiper.

Hamilton M. Laing (1925) says that "on one occasion one was seen to swim nimbly from one rock to another rather than fly."

_Voice._--Except on its breeding grounds, we considered the Aleutian sandpiper a very quiet and silent bird. Its twittering flight song is a part of the nuptial ceremony, and it was only on its nesting grounds that we heard the loud, musical, flutelike, whistling notes so suggestive of the melodious calls of the upland plover. Doctor Nelson (1887) describes what may be the same notes, as follows:

While on the wing it uttered a rather low but clear and musical
_tweo-tweo-tweo_. When feeding it had a note something like a call
of the _Colaptes auratus_, and which may be represented by the
syllables _clu-clu-clu_.

Mr. Clark (1910) also says:

The cry is loud and clear, bearing a striking resemblance to the
call of the flicker.

_Field marks._--In winter the Aleutian sandpiper might easily be mistaken for a purple sandpiper, which it closely resembles in appearance, haunts, and behavior, but the winter ranges of the two species are widely separated. From the Pribilof sandpiper it differs in being decidedly smaller, and in summer it is much darker, with less rufous above and more black below.

_Fall._--The Aleutian sandpiper withdraws in the fall from the northern portions of its breeding range in Alaska and Siberia, and it may be that the birds which breed farthest north are the ones which migrate farthest south to spend the winter, for the species is resident throughout the year in the Aleutian Islands. In the Norton Sound region it evidently occurs only as a migrant from northern Alaska and Siberia. Doctor Nelson (1887) says:

Early in August, however, I was pleased to find it abundant in
parties of from five to thirty or forty about outlying islets and
along rugged portions of the shore. During each of the four
succeeding seasons the same experience was repeated, and the last
of July or first of August I was certain to find the numbers of
them in the situations mentioned, where earlier in the season not
one was to be found. They always remained until the middle of
October, when the beaches became covered with ice and they were
forced to seek a milder climate. The 1st of October, as the first
snowstorms begin, these birds desert the more exposed islets and
beaches for the inner bays and sandy beaches, where their habits
are like those of other sandpipers in similar situations.

_Winter._--This hardy sandpiper is well known to winter regularly and abundantly in the Aleutian and Commander Islands. According to notes received from D. E. Brown, it reaches the coast of Washington as early as October 1, where it spends the winter in Grays Harbor and Jefferson Counties and on the outer islands. Carl Lien's notes, from Destruction Island, give it as a "common winter resident. A flock of probably 50 spend the winter. Nearly always found in company with turnstones and surfbirds, and together with these birds confine themselves entirely to the reefs."

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--The northeastern corner of Siberia, west coast of Alaska and adjacent islands, including the Aleutians, south (rarely) to northwestern Oregon.

_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the Aleutian sandpiper extends north to eastern Siberia (Emma Harbor) and Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales). East to Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales, Colville River, and Port Moller); and the Shumagin Islands. South to the Shumagin Islands; the western part of the Alaskan Peninsula (Muller Bay and Morzhovia Bay); and the Aleutian Islands (Unalaska, Atka, Tanaga, Kiska, Agutta, and Attu Islands). West to the Aleutian Islands (Attu) and eastern Siberia (Emma Harbor). The species also has been detected in summer at St. Lawrence and St. Matthew Islands and at other points on the mainland of Alaska (Point Dall, Pastolik, St. Michael, Nulato, and Port Clarence).

_Winter range._--Resident throughout much of its range, but also south in winter, along the Alaskan and British Columbian coasts and as far as Washington (Destruction Island).

_Migration._--The migrations performed by the Aleutian sandpiper are very limited. In the vicinity of St. Michael, Alaska, flocks will appear as early as August 15, occasionally remaining until October 15. They have been noted on the Asiatic side of Bering Sea at Providence Bay in June, at East Cape in July, at Plover Bay in September, and on Bering Island as late as October 24.

Spring migrants have been observed to reach Point Etolin, Alaska, as early as April 8 and Bering Island April 24. Spring departures from the southern part of the winter range have been noted as late as: Destruction Island, May 1; Forrester Island, May 7; and Admiralty Island, May 14. An early fall arrival at Craig, Alaska, is August 6 and at Destruction Island October 1.

_Casual records._--This species has been collected or observed outside of its known normal range on a few occasions: Washington, Point Chehalis, November 6, 1917, and Dungeness Spit, March 4, 1916; Oregon, Cape Meares, December 31, 1912, and March 18, 1913; these may prove to be regular winter resorts.

_Egg dates._--Alaska: 18 records, June 3 to July 24; 9 records, June 15 to 22.

PISOBIA ACUMINATA (Horsfield)

SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER

HABITS

This is a bird which few of us have been privileged to see. From its summer home in northeastern Siberia it migrates south to Japan, the Malay Archipelago, Australia, and New Zealand. On the fall migration it visits the coast of northwestern Alaska frequently, perhaps regularly, and often commonly. It occurs regularly, sometimes abundantly, on the Pribilof Islands in the fall. In southern Alaska and farther south it occurs only as a rare straggler. A. W. Anthony (1922) took a young male near San Diego, California, on September 16, 1921.

Some European writers have called it the Siberian pectoral sandpiper, which its resemblance to our common bird of that name seems to warrant. It is so much like our pectoral sandpiper in appearance, behavior, and haunts, that it has probably often been overlooked; it may therefore occur on our northwestern coast much oftener than we suspect.

_Nesting._--The sharp-tailed sandpiper is supposed to breed in Mongolia and eastern Siberia; it has been seen and collected on its breeding grounds in northeastern Siberia, Cape Wankarem, the Chuckchi Peninsula, and the Kolyma Delta, but apparently its nest has never been found and its eggs are entirely unknown.

_Plumages._--The downy young is entirely unknown. This sandpiper is handsomely and richly colored in any plumage, but the rich buff and bright browns of the juvenal plumage are particularly noticeable. The body plumage is molted in the fall, the wings and tail in late winter, and the body plumage is partially molted again in the spring. The plumages are well described in the manuals.

_Food._--Preble and McAtee (1923) report on the food of this species, as follows:

Eight well-filled and one nearly empty stomach of the sharp-tailed
sandpiper are available to illustrate the food habits. This number
is too small to furnish reliable results, and too great dependence
must not be placed in data as to the relative ranks of food items
as here stated. The percentages found for the limited material,
then, are flies (Diptera), 39.1 per cent; crustaceans, 18.1 per
cent; mollusks, 14.2 per cent; caddisflies, 11.8 per cent; beetles,
8.8 per cent; Hymenoptera, 1.8 per cent; and vegetable matter, 3.9
per cent. Mr. Hanna notes that flocks of this species frequent the
seal-killing fields, feeding on fly maggots, a statement receiving
confirmation from stomach analysis.

_Behavior._--Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) tells us a little about the habits of this rare species, as follows:

They were nearly always associated with _maculata_, whose habits
they shared to a great extent. When congregated about their feeding
places they united into flocks of from ten into fifty, but single
birds were frequently flushed from and they were rarely shy. On
October 1, 1880, they were found scattered singly over the marsh,
and arose 30 to 40 yards in advance, and made off with a twisting
flight, uttering at the same time a short, soft, metallic _pleep,
pleep,_ and pursuing an erratic, circuitous flight for a time they
generally returned and settled near the spot whence they started.
On the shore of Siberia, near North Cape, we found these birds very
common, scattered over damp grass flats near the coast, the 1st of
August, 1881. The ground was covered with reindeer tracks, and
among these the sharp-tailed snipe were seen seeking their food.
They were very unsuspicious and allowed us to pass close to them,
or circled close about us. From their movements and other
circumstances I judged that this district formed part of their
breeding grounds, whence they reach the neighboring coast of Alaska
in fall.

_Field marks._--The sharp-tailed sandpiper most closely resembles the pectoral sandpiper, but it can often be recognized in the field by the more ruddy color of the upper parts. Most of the feathers of the shoulders, scapulars and secondaries are broadly edged with chestnut; these edgings are paler in winter. The bright chestnut crown, streaked with black, and the ruddy brown suffusion on the chest and sides, might be recognized under favorable circumstances.

_Fall._--Not much seems to be known about the spring migration, but the fall migration is fairly well marked. Doctor Nelson (1887) says:

They usually make their first appearance on the shore of Norton
Sound the last of August, and in a few days become very common.
They sometimes remain up to the 12th of October, and I have seen
them searching for food along the tide line when the ground was
covered with 2 inches of snow. When feeding along the edges of the
tide-creeks they may almost be knocked over with a paddle, and when
a flock is fired into it returns again and again.

It is a regular fall migrant in the Pribilof Islands, between August 17 and November 9, where it associates in large flocks with the pectoral sandpiper on the seal-killing fields.

Doctor Stejneger (1885) writes:

Of this species I only obtained young specimens on Bering Island
during the autumnal migration of 1882. From the middle of September
and during the following three weeks they were observed both on the
tundra near the great lake and on the rocky beach of the ocean
searching for Gammarids. They were very shy and mostly single or in
small families. Larger flocks were never seen.

From the Commander Islands the main flight continues on down the Asiatic coast, through Japan, China, and the Malay Archipelago, to New Zealand and Australia, where it spends the winter.

_Winter._--W. B. Alexander writes to me that this is--

One of the commonest northern breeding birds which visits
Australia. My earliest record of their arrival is August 31, 1925,
at Cairns, North Queensland, and my latest record April 21, 1922,
at Rockhampton, Queensland. From September to March they are to be
found in small flocks throughout the coastal districts of Australia
on the shores of estuaries and lakes and in fresh-water swamps. In
October, 1922, I saw a flock of four on the open country near a dam
on Alice Downs Station, near Blackall, central Queensland, a
locality about 350 miles from the coast. Mr. D. W. Gaukrodger
subsequently secured an excellent photograph of three of these
birds at the same dam.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--The sharp-tailed sandpiper breeds in the northeastern part of Asia--so far as known, in northeastern Siberia--wintering south to New Guinea, Tonga Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. Occurs in migration in Kamchatka, China, and Japan.

During fall migration it is of regular though rare occurrence in Alaska (Hotham Inlet, September 1, 1880; Port Clarence, September 9, 1880; Nome, September 2 to 16, 1910; St. Michael, September 16, 1877, August 29 and September 11, 1879, September 18, 21, and 24, 1899; Bethel, September 30 and October 1, 1914; St. Paul Island, August 17, 1897, September 7 and 13, 1910, September 14 and 20 and October 12, 1914; St. George Island, October 3, 1899; and Valdez, September 18, 1908).

_Casual records._--The species is accidental in British Columbia (Massett, December 27, 1897, and Comox, October 4, 1903); Washington (mouth of the Nooksack River, September 2, 1892); England (Breydon, Norfolk, August, 1892, and Yarmouth, September, 1848 [?]); and the Hawaiian Islands (Laysan [specimen in museum at Bremen], a second specimen near Honolulu, a third specimen was collected on Maui [Henshaw], and Bartsch secured two specimens and saw others on Sand Island, November 8, 1907). One was taken near San Diego, Calif., on September 16, 1921.

PISOBIA MACULATA (Vieillot)

PECTORAL SANDPIPER

HABITS

This familiar sandpiper is well known as a migrant throughout most of North America, especially east of the Rocky Mountains, as it travels on its long journeys between the Arctic tundras, where it breeds, and its winter home in southern South America. It is more popular among gunners than the other small sandpipers, to whom it is known by several names. It is called "jack snipe" on account of its resemblance in appearance and habits to the Wilson snipe. It deserves the name, "grass bird," because it usually frequents grassy meadows. The name, "creaker," "creeker," or "Krieker," may have been derived from its reedy notes, from its haunts along the muddy banks of creeks, or from the German word _Kriecher_, on account of its crouching habits.

_Spring._--The northward migration must start from Argentina in February, for it reaches Texas and Louisiana early in March, and I have seen it in Florida as early as March 14. On the other hand it has been taken at Mendoza, Argentina, as late as March 26. The main flight passes through the United States during March and April, but I have seen it in Texas as late as May 17. During May the migration is at its height in Canada and before the end of that month it reaches its summer home. William Rowan tells me that it is always very abundant in Alberta during May and that the males come alone at first, then mixed flocks, and finally only females. H. B. Conover writes to me that "these sandpipers seemed to arrive at Point Dall (Alaska) all at once. Up to May 20 none had been seen, but on the 21st they were found to be common all over the tundra. Immediately on arrival the males started their booming courtship." John Murdoch (1885) says that, at Point Barrow:

They arrive about the end of May or early in June, and frequent the
small ponds and marshy portions of the tundra along the shore,
sometimes associated with other small waders, especially with the
buff-breasted sandpipers on the high banks of Nunava. Early in the
season they are frequently in large-sized flocks feeding together
around and in the Eskimo village at Cape Smythe, but later become
thoroughly scattered all over the tundra.

_Courtship._--The wonderful and curious courtship of the pectoral sandpiper has been well described by several writers. Dr. E. W. Nelson's (1887) pleasing and graphic account of it is well worth quoting in full; he writes:

The night of May 24 I lay wrapped in my blanket, and from the
raised flap of the tent looked out over as dreary a cloud-covered
landscape as can be imagined. The silence was unbroken save by the
tinkle and clinking of the disintegrating ice in the river, and at
intervals by the wild notes of some restless loon, which arose in a
hoarse reverberating cry and died away in a strange gurgling sound.
As my eyelids began to droop and the scene to become indistinct,
suddenly a low, hollow, booming note struck my ear and sent my
thoughts back to a spring morning in northern Illinois, and to the
loud vibrating tones of the prairie chickens. Again the sound arose
nearer and more distinct, and with an effort I brought myself back
to the reality of my position and, resting upon one elbow,
listened. A few seconds passed and again arose the note; a moment
later and, gun in hand, I stood outside the tent. The open flat
extended away on all sides, with apparently not a living creature
near. Once again the note was repeated close by, and a glance
revealed its author. Standing in the thin grasses 10 or 15 yards
from me, with its throat inflated until it was as large as the rest
of the bird, was a male _A. maculata_. The succeeding days afforded
opportunity to observe the bird as it uttered its singular notes
under a variety of situations and at various hours of the day or
during the light Arctic night. The note is deep, hollow, and
resonant, but at the same time liquid and musical, and may be
represented by a repetition of the syllables _too-u, too-u, too-u,
too-u, too-u, too-u, too-u, too-u_. Before the bird utters these
notes it fills its esophagus with air to such an extent that the
breast and throat is inflated to twice or more its natural size,
and the great air sac thus formed gives the peculiar resonant
quality to the note.