SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPEE 245 



Joseph Dixon (1917a), writing of a bird that sang at an elevation 

 of about 50 feet above the nest says : " His song seemed to come from 

 every direction, and this illusion was difficult to account for even by 

 the unusual location of the songster." Whether the whinny heard from 

 birds, many of which are posturing on the sand is a modification 

 of the nuptial song or rather a partial reproduction of it, I do not 

 know, but I am inclined to think it is. Many of these musicians 

 appear on close scrutiny to be young birds, which would explain the 

 imperfection of the song. The posturing is often in the nature of 

 mock fighting — I have never seen any real blows exchanged — when two, 

 facing each other, crouch almost flat on the sand, and then suddenly 

 spring at each other with wings outspread. Again, two would slowly 

 walk toward each other with neck and body almost touching the ground 

 and with head up. This act is often performed with tail cocked up 

 over the back, displaying a white triangle of tail coverts, and every 

 now and then the birds would run at each other with outspread wings. 

 All birds acting thus appeared to be uttering a series of rolling notes, 

 which, emitted from a number of birds scattered over the flats, pro- 

 duces a considerable volume of sound. I have described this partial 

 song as a whinny, and have tried to reduce it to syllables — eh, eh, eh, 

 or what-er, what-er. 



Lucien M. Turner in his Ungava notes records two individuals 

 that " ran back and forth, uttering a purring twitter, holding their 

 wings over their back with the head and neck depressed, while the 

 posterior portion of the body was somewhat elevated. The throat 

 was at times inflated and at other times every feather of the body 

 was nearly reversed, presenting a strange sight." 



Herbert W. Brandt supplies the following from observations in 

 Alaska : 



The semipalmated sandpiper flies high into the air, often almost out of 

 sight, and pours forth a sustained tinkling song, which sounds like its native 

 name uttered as a high-pitched trill — "la-v-la-v-la-v." As it sings it rapidly 

 fans the air with short wing beats, at the same time moving at considerable 

 speed continuously back and forth over a distance of 50 yards or more. Four 

 of the birds which I took to be males were rather noisy, twittering, and purl- 

 ing, and occasionally one of them rushed at another as if he seriously intended 

 to wage mortal combat. The feathers on his dainty neck stood out in an 

 angered ruff; his wings were half spread, showing their light markings; and 

 when the little warrior was just about to strike he folded his wings and 

 elevated his tail until it was almost vertical above his long wing tips. There 

 was, however, no real fight, for each one seemed to know his superior and 

 gave way, after a little display, like a weaker rooster in a well-regulated 

 barnyard. 



Nesting. — H. W. Brandt contributes the following: 



The semipalmated sandpiper nests amid the short herbage on the grassy 

 dunes near the moaning breakers of Point Dall, where it selects a site quite 



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