250 BULLETIN 14 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



other birds iu the vicinity, it fed extensively, if not exclusively, on a species 

 of small fly (Ephydra Mans Say), which was found in immense masses near 

 the edge of the lake. Many of these swarms of flies were four or five layers 

 deep and covered an area of 15 or 20 square feet. Some idea can be formed 

 of the inexhaustible supply of food which this insect furnishes for birds 

 when it is known that colonies of equal size occurred at close intervals in 

 suitable localities all around the lake, which has a shore line of between 40 and 

 50 miles. 



Behavior. — Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) write: 



When searching for food they move about a great deal, with a distinct trot, 

 and on occasion have been seen to hop along on one leg as Torrey has observed 

 .sanderlings to do at Santa Barbara. Their movements are rapid and their 

 strides exceedingly long. At Netarts Bay, Oreg., Jewett says that when run- 

 ning fast the strides of one of these birds proved to measure 6 inches. One 

 of the birds will start, run 3 or 4 feet, and stop suddenly, the whole perform- 

 ance occupying but a second or two. There is an abrupt upward tilt of the 

 body at intervals, and with the return movement the quavering note is often 

 uttered. In flight the birds may travel in open formation, or closely massed, 

 and the flight may be either direct, or in zigzag course as with the small 

 sandpipers. Both in flight, and on the ground, their chunky appearance helps 

 to distinguish them from the small sandpipers. They are quite tame and will 

 usually permit a close approach, preferring apparently to trot along in front 

 of the observer, or off to one side, rather than to take wing. 



Florence Merriam Bailey (1916) observes: 



Besides the large waders, the godwits, willets, and surf birds, there were 

 flocks of little sanderlings and snowy plover, looking like small chicki>ns on the 

 beach among the bigger birds. The snowy plover, plump, squat little fellows 

 with head markings that suggest wide foreheads and backs that match the 

 sand on which they love to sun themselves, wlien feeding on the beach would 

 hurry back ahead of the foam, their short legs making them more in danger 

 of getting wet than the long-legged godwits. When resting, the plump little 

 .sandy-backed fellows kept by themselves. Sometimes as I walked along above 

 the line of the tide, bits of sand would take legs ahead of me, the brown forms 

 that squatted in my path having been entirely overlooked. When I saw them 

 before they got up, and stopped to talk to them, the confiding little fellows 

 flatteringly sat still or went on fixing their feathers, looking very comfortable 

 in the warm sand. To me they seemed the most winning and attractive of all 

 the lovely little sandpipers. When they were surprised and ran from me they 

 did it in a comical crouching way as if knowing their backs were sand color and 

 trying to hide their black legs and plump white bodies. Their habit of bobbing 

 the head is doubtless useful at times, but the motion often catches the eye when 

 without it they would not be separated from the sand. 



Voice. — Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) .say: "Snowy plover 

 are exceptionally quiet birds; but at times a low, guttural, trilling- 

 note, cr-r-r-r or j^e-e-e-et, may be given, and when the vicinity of the 

 nest is invaded the birds give utterance to relatively loud cries." 



Field Timrks. — They also give the best recognition marks, as follows : 



The snowy plover is readily distinguished from most other shore birds occur- 

 ring in California by its very small size (total length, 6-7 inches). It is but 



