8 BULLETIN 146, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A third kind of note, isolated pips, suggesting the call of the water thrush, is 

 expressive of excitement when a bird Is on the gi-ound, as when just alighted. 



Field 7narks.— The field characters are also well described by Mr. 



Nichols, as follows : 



In flight the under surface of the solitary sandpiper's wings appears blackish. 

 Birds on the ground not infrequently raise the wings over the back, displaying 

 this mark to advantage. Its tail, spread when about to alight, appears white 

 with a contrasting dark center. When traveling in the air its flight is either 

 swift and darting or else resembles that of a yellowlegs, a little jerkier. When 

 about to alight it usually drops down abruptly, much as the Wilson's snipe 

 does ; and when flying only a few yards it has a peculiar jerky flight with 

 wings partially spread. On the ground It looks much like a yellowlegs, but is 

 darker, smaller, and stands relatively lower. Its legs are olive green; very 

 rarely an individual in spring has quite yellow legs. 



Fall. — The fall migration of the solitary sandpiper is a general 

 southward movement all across the continent, performed in a lei- 

 surely manner. The earliest birds, probably adults, reach New 

 England in July; and late birds, probably young, linger through 

 October. Mr. Brewster (1925) says: 



On August 2, 1873, I saw fully 100 along the Androscoggin River between the 

 lake and Errol Dam, and almost as many more, a few hours later, while going 

 up the Magalloway River some 7 or 8 miles. At that date In almost any year 

 there is, throughout the whole Umbagog region, almost no muddy shore of pond, 

 lake, river, lagoon, or brook, whether open to the sun or densely shaded by 

 overhanging foliage, which is not frequented by one or more solitary sandpipers. 

 Hence we may safely assume that in the region at large they are regularly 

 present in far greater numbers during August than at any other time of year. 



When with us in the fall they are more 11116137^ to be seen on open 

 meadows or salt marshes than they are in the spring, often in com- 

 pany with lesser yellowlegs. Mr. Nichols writes to me: 



In the first half of August, 1919, this species was unusually plentiful, living 

 on the bay marsh at Mastic, Long Island, with maximum numbers August 9 to 

 10. The birds frequented the larger bits of flooded dead -marsh that yellowlegs 

 love and were also found in smaller, less open, pools more overshadowed by 

 grass. On August 16 and 17 two birds were also repeatedly found feeding on 

 patches of weed matted at the surface of an adjacent creek, exceedingly tame. 

 The presence of these solitary sandpipers on a coastal marsh may have been 

 due to conditions of high-water level prevailing at the time, flooding the muddy 

 borders of inland pools where they are ordinarily to be looked for. 



Capt. Savile G. Reid (1884) says that in Bermuda " they generally 

 come with the other species in August. They soon betake themselves 

 to the wooded swamps, where they may be found singly or in pairs 

 throughout the autumn." 



On the Pacific coast both races of the solitary sandpiper occur regu- 

 larly on the fall migi^ation, but the western race is undoubtedly much 

 commoner and is supposed by some to be the only race found west of 

 the Rocky Mountains. The migration occurs mainly in August and 



