126 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Prof. William Rowan writes to me: 



In very dirty weather, particularly if a gale is blowing, stilt sandpipers 

 have been noted hunting for food high and dry on rough pasture. This is 

 probably an exceptional performance correlated with this type of weather, for 

 it has never been observed at other times. 



John T. Nichols says in his notes: 



Just how this species makes use of its somewhat peculiar bill is not very 

 clear. I have seen it alighted on flooded dead marsh, wading in the puddles 

 and picking at the projecting dead stubble about on its own level. Again I find 

 in my journal reference to three birds which alighted in water to their thighs, 

 and immediately began to feed, moving about close together, immersing the 

 bill to the eyes for an instant or two. 



Verdi Burtch (1925), referring to a bird he saw at Branchpoint, 



N. Y., says : 



I saw it catch and with much effort swallow a small frog, after which it lost 

 all interest in fishing. It walked off a few steps and stood on one foot, all 

 humped up and with eyes closed ; quite a contrast to the usual alert sandpiper 

 pose. 



Behavior. — Audubon (1840) writes: 



The flight of these sandpipers is rapid and regular. They move compactly, 

 and often when about to alight, or after being disturbed, incline their bodies 

 to either side, showing alternately the upper and lower parts. On foot they 

 move more like curlews than tringas, they being as it were more sedate in 

 their deportment. At times, on the approach of a person, they squat on the 

 ground, very much in the manner of the Esquimaux curlew, Nnmenius borealis; 

 and their flesh is as delicate as that of the species just named. 



Dr. Arthur 1 A. Allen (1913), after referring to the companionship 

 and resemblance between stilt sandpipers and lesser yellowlegs, 



says : 



In their habits, however, the two species were quite different. The yellow- 

 legs were always rangy birds and covered a great deal of ground while feeding. 

 Even when resting they were conspicuous by the nervous jerking of the head 

 and neck. In flight they usually formed fairly compact flocks but scattered 

 upon alighting. The stilt sandpipers, on the other hand, were quiet birds and 

 went about their search for food very systematically, gleaning everything iu 

 their way. They frequently, fed in a space a few yards square for over an 

 hour at a time. When at rest they showed none of the nervous traits of the 

 yellowlegs, being much more sedate, neither jerking the head nor tilting the 

 tail. In flight' they were quite similar to the yellowlegs, but as soon as they 

 alighted they bunched and frequently the whole flock fed with their bodies 

 nearly touching. Like the yellowlegs, the stilt sandpipers were seldom seen 

 upon the exposed mud but preferred wading where the water was from 1 to 3 

 inches in depth, so that the entire head and neck frequently disappeared 

 beneath the surface of the water while feeding. The notes of the two birds, 

 though similar in form, were wholly unlike in quality, that of the stilt sand- 

 piper being mellower and lower in pitch. 



