STILT SANDPIPER 123 



is more common on migrations in the Mississippi Valley than else- 

 where, on its way to and from its restricted breeding range on the 

 barren grounds and Arctic coast of Canada. 



Spring. — The spring migration is almost directly north from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to Great Slave Lake and then down the Mackenzie 

 Valley and other valleys to the Arctic coast. It is rare in spring on 

 the Atlantic coast. R. J. Longstreet writes to me that he saw three 

 on May 4 and 5, and four on May 8, 1925, in Volusia County, 

 Florida. C. G. Harrold tells me that it is a common spring migrant 

 in Manitoba, "even abundant at times, a flock of nearly 300 being 

 seen in May, 1924, at Whitewater Lake." A. G. Lawrence records it, 

 at the same lake, as early as May 5 and as late as June 2 ; he calls it 

 " uncommon to fairly common." At Beaver Lake, in northern Al- 

 berta, William Rowan saw flocks of from 20 to 25 birds every day 

 from May 20 to 28, 1924. P. L. Hatch (1892) says that, in Minne- 

 sota, "they come in small flocks, and keep mostly about shallow 

 ponds, and along the smaller streams flowing through the marshes," 

 but he has " found them on the sandy beaches of some of the larger 

 lakes on several occasions." He says " they are shy and exceedingly 

 vigilant, making it no easy matter to get them." 



Nesting. — Comparatively little is known about the nesting habits 

 of the stilt sandpiper. Roderick MaeFarlane (1891) found it 

 " fairly abundant on the shores of Franklin Bay, where a number of 

 nests with eggs and young were discovered. It is, however, very 

 rare in the interior, only one nest having been taken at Rendezvous 

 Lake on the borders of the wooded country east of Fort Anderson." 

 A nest with three eggs, found on June 22, 1863, is described in his 

 notes as " near a small lake and composed of a few deca} r ed leaves 

 placed in a depression in the ground, partly concealed by a tuft of 

 grass;" the female was flushed off the nest and shot. The nest found 

 at Rendezvous Lake is not described, but one found at Franklin 

 Bay, on July 6 or 8, 1865, containing four fresh eggs, was " a mere 

 depression in the ground, lined with a few withered leaves and 

 grasses." 



Eggs. — Four eggs is probably the usual number laid by the stilt 

 sandpiper. They are ovate pyriform in shape. The only eggs I 

 have been able to locate are the three sets in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, collected by MaeFarlane. J. H. Riley has kindly 

 sent me descriptions and measurements of these. In the set of four 

 eggs the ground color is " ivory yellow " with large irregular blotches 

 and spots of two shades of " mummy brown," and a few rather large 

 shell markings of " hair brown," the latter mostly towards the larger 

 end. The spots and blotches are a little heavier towards the larger 

 end, also, but in no sense do they form a ring. Another set of two 



