368 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFOENIA 



Gradually, as in increasing excitement he executes the convulsive vibra- 

 tions of his wings, his song changes to single deeper notes — following quickly 

 after each other — at last to die out while the bird at the same time drops to 

 the earth on stiff wings strongly bent upward. This fine pairing song may be 

 heard for more than a month everywhere at the breeding places, and it wonder- 

 fully enlivens this generally so desolate and silent nature (Manniche, 1910, p. 

 132). 



In the breeding season the male is pugnacious and quarrelsome 

 towards birds of his own and of other species, and will often drive 

 them far from his domain. Both sexes share in the work of incubat- 

 ing the eggs as both show the bare spots on the breast and belly which 

 characterize incubating birds. But the female does the larger share 

 of this work, the male being much oftener seen off the nest than is 

 his mate. The birds are extremely wary and give absolutely no indi- 

 cation of the location of their nests. Manniche was able to find the 

 nests of many of the other species of birds summering in this region, 

 but was absolutely baffled in his attempts to discover a nest of the 

 Knot. Once, after the young were hatched, he followed a female 

 bird for over four hours and covered more than two miles of country 

 in a vain endeavor to discover the location of her brood. So far as 

 determinable, the male does not assist in caring for the brood. 



The food of the Knot consists of numerous small mollusks, small 

 crustaceans, marine worms, cutworms (from the marshes), grass- 

 hoppers, diving beetles, caterpillars, and, rarely, parts of plants 

 (McAtee, 1911ft; Mackay, 1893, p. 27; Saunders, 1899, p. 596). 



The chief interest in the Knot lies in its value as a game bird. 

 Sanford, Bishop and Van Dyke (1903, p. 360) declare that the flesh 

 of this species is of fine flavor, to be compared with that of the Golden 

 Plover. The Knot should therefore be carefully conserved. In Cali- 

 fornia its small numbers make it of particular interest from the 

 standpoint of the naturalist. 



Pectoral Sandpiper 



Pisohia maculata (Vieillot) 



Other names — Triiiga maculata; Actodromas marulafa. 



Description — Adults, hotli sexes, in spring and summer: Top of head black, 

 the feathers broadly margined with rusty; lower part of forehead and stripe 

 to and over eye, whitish, many of the feathers with narrow dark broM'n shaft 

 streaks; below this a dull reddish brown stripe from bill to eye; chin white; 

 cheeks and throat bufify, finely streaked with blackish brown; bill greenish, 

 yellowish at base of lower mandible; iris dark brown; hind neck like top of 

 head but colors paler; upper back and scapulars brownish black, broadly 

 margined with tawny and tipped with ashy white (as the season proceeds the 

 tawny pales by fading, and the white is worn off) ; rump and central upper 

 tail coverts, dull brownish black, some of the feathers narrowly tipped with 



