176 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



flight. Sometimes it flutters away for only a short distance and 

 drops quickly into the grass. Again it makes a long flight, circling 

 high in the air and then pitches down suddenly in some distant part 

 of the marsh, or perhaps near the starting point. Though erratic 

 at first, the flight is swift and direct when well under way. They 

 sometimes fly in flocks like other sandpipers, but more often they are 

 flushed singly. They usually flock by themselves but are sometimes 

 associated, purely fortuitously I believe, with other species that fre- 

 quent similar feeding grounds, such as Wilson snipe, Baird, least or 

 semipalmated sandpipers. 



The pectoral sandpiper has another snipe-like habit of standing- 

 motionless in the grass, relying on its concealing coloration, where its 

 striped plumage renders it almost invisible, even in plain sight. It 

 moves about slowly while feeding, probing in the mud with rapid 

 strokes. Often it stands perfectly still with its head held high, 

 watching an intruder; the dark markings on its neck end abruptly 

 on the white breast, breaking up the outline and helping the bird 

 to fade into the background. It is occasionally seen swimming across 

 a narrow creek or channel. 



Voice. — This is a rather noisy bird, especially so on its breeding 

 ground, and its short, sharp flight notes are quite characteristic of 

 the "creaker." Mr. Nichols contributes the following good descrip- 

 tion of them : 



Tlie notes of the pectoral sandpiper have a reedy character, intermediate in 

 tone between the clearer calls of most shore birds and the hoarse cry of the 

 Wilson's snipe. This is in keeping with its habits. Its characteristic flight 

 note is a loud reedy kerr, resembling that of the semipalmated sandpiper 

 (cherk) more closely than any other shore bird call, but recognizably heavier. 

 Rarely in flight, the kerr varies into or is replaced by a near-whistled krru. 

 On being flushed it often has hoarse, hurried cheeping notes, analogous with 

 similar harsher notes of the Wilson's snipe. When in a flock of its own kind, 

 alert and on the move, it has a short, snappy flocking note, a chorus of tcheps 

 or chips. To my ear its flushing note is more or less a combination of flight 

 note and flocking note, and it may reasonably be so. The flocking note com- 

 municates alertness to near-by members of a flock ; the flight note is used more 

 emphatically by birds separated from their companions or in active flight and 

 disposed for companionship, whereas on being flushed the bird is signalling to 

 possible companions ; but as it has been feeding singly, concealed from such 

 others as there may be by the grass, their distance is uncertain. 



Field marks. — The pale-gray, almost white, tail with its dark, 

 almost black, center and rump, is conspicuous in flight ; a pale stripe 

 in the wing is less noticeable. The snipelike colors of the upper 

 parts, the dark, heavily streaked breast, contrasted sharply with the 

 white under parts, and the short olive-yellow legs are good field 

 marks when the bird is standing. The males are much larger than 

 the females, which is unusual among shore birds. 



