208 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



more of a greenish tinge, and I have put the tarsi down as oil yellow, 

 the toes shading into yellowish oil green. In deciding on these 

 colors I have had the advice of an artist. The richer brown plumage 

 of the back and the darker streakings and wash of the breast help 

 to distinguish the least from the lighter and grayer semipalmated 

 bird, but in the fall these distinctions are less marked in the adult. 

 Even at this season, however, a least sandpiper on the beach in a 

 flock of semipalmated stands out by its browner colors, and, in the 

 marsh, a semipalmated in a flock of least looks very gray. The 

 least sandpiper is a little smaller than the other bird, but this 

 character as well as the color of the plumage are of slight value 

 without the presence of both birds for comparison. 



Another point, which at times can be satisfactorily made out in 

 the field, is that the bill of the least sandpiper is slightly decurved, 

 while that of the semipalmated is straight and stouter. It has 

 been noted by Coues (18C1) and by others independently, that the 

 least sandpiper is a perfect miniature of the pectoral sandpiper 

 even to the color of its legs. The great difference in size, however, 

 prevents any confusion. 



Two other sandpipers, referred to above, may, however, be mis- 

 taken for least or semipalmated sandpipers, although they are some- 

 what larger. Gunners at Ipswich used to call them "bull peep." 

 I refer to the white-rumped and the Baird sandpipers. The white 

 rump of the former is diagnostic and is easily seen in flight, but is 

 generally covered by the wings when the birds are running on the 

 sand. The plumage of both Baird and white-rumped sandpipers is 

 dark in front of the bend of the wing, while in the semipalmated and 

 juvenal least it is light. This is a fine point that I have found of 

 great value. 



Full. — The last migrant for the north has scarcely gone before 

 wisps of returning sandpipers appear. The regular northward mi- 

 gration in Massachusetts ceases about June 7, although an occasional 

 nonbreeding bird may remain, and the migrants begin to return 

 about July 4. A surprisingly large number of early fall migrants 

 appeared at Ipswich on July 3, 1911. A flock of at least 50 whirled 

 about and alighted near me on the marsh. One must suppose that 

 the early migrants in the spring are the early ones to return in the 

 fall. They are generally all gone from the New England coast by 

 the end of the first week in September, although stragglers may be 

 found in October. They migrate both by day and by night. 



Carl Lien writes in his notes from Destruction Island, Washing- 

 ton, that the least sandpiper — 



Constitutes, with the western sandpiper, the great body of migratory birds, 

 and if the nights are a little misty the numbers that circle around the light at 

 nigh resemble a snow storm, and they continue until daybreak when they appav- 



