WHITE-EUMPED SANDPIPER 187 



the lakes, they collect to wash themselves and digest the food they have 

 obtained from the salt-water mud. 



As a person approaches one of these pools, in the latter part of August, 

 little suspecting that anything will be found near them, these birds turn their 

 backs, which so closely resemble the lichen covered granite as to render the 

 birds indistinguishable. A nearer approach and they present their white 

 breasts which afford a striking contrast with the surroundings. In a moment 

 they run together and huddle into a compact flock before they take wing. 

 I have, by firing at the proper moment, secured every individual composing 

 a flock of over a dozen birds. If they fly they take to their wings with a 

 sudden impulse and fly in a zigzag movement for a few yards then swerve 

 to right or left continuing until another locality is reached, where they sit 

 quietly until approached. This is repeated every tide and, as the birds are 

 crepuscular also in their habits, their opportunities for becoming fat are 

 nearly doubled. They acquire the fat in a short time. The thickness of the 

 layer is often one-fourth of an inch and completely envelops the body. The 

 least abrasion of the skin or a shot hole soon fills the surrounding parts 

 with oil which has exuded from the wound, making the preparation of skins 

 for specimens a very difficult matter. The flesh of these birds is peculiarly 

 tender and richly flavored. At times I have gone out to shoot these birds 

 for the table and with five discharges (of half an ounce of No. 12 shot) I 

 secured on one occasion 82 birds. A heavy stick thrown in among them as 

 they wade along the water's edge also knocks many of them over, for these 

 birds seem so intent on procuring food that but little heed is given to the 

 hunter. 



William Brewster (1925) says: 



Invariably among the tamest and most confiding of our so-called shore birds, 

 they will usually permit one to approach, either on foot or in a boat, within 

 5 or 6 yards, while I have known a gun to be discharged into a flock with 

 fatal effect, but without causing any of the birds which escaped injury to 

 take whig. Like most obese creatures they are habitually sluggish, confining 

 their wanderings afoot to limited areas, and exploiting these very deliberately, 

 walking slowly and sedately in crouching attitudes, with measured steps, fre- 

 quently stopping to thrust their bills listlessly a little way into the soft 

 ground, or to pick up small morsels of food from the surface. Occasionally, 

 however, one may see them running to and fro over the mud quite briskly 

 and ceaselessly, perhaps incited to this comparatively unusual behavior by the 

 example of other waders feeding close about them, for they are by no means 

 averse to the companionship of several of the lesser kinds, such as semi- 

 palmated plover and sandpipers, grass-birds, dunlins, etc. Although some- 

 what loath to take wing, even when threatened by obvious danger, they are 

 likely to fly swiftly and far, when once started, doubling and circling over the 

 marshes in much the same manner as other small sandpipers. 



John T. Nichols, says in his notes: 



When startled, a bird has been seen to crouch down concealing the bulk of 

 its white underparts and practically disappear against the brightly lighted mud 

 flat on which it had been feeding. This is a habit shared by its close relatives 

 the pectoral and least sandpipers. 



Voice. — The white-rumped sandpiper is ordinarily a rather silent 

 bird, but its short, sharp flight note is characteristic of the species 



