BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 125 



TRINGA MACULATA Vieillot. (239.) 



PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 



This familiar bird to the sportsmen is a common species dur- 

 ing its migrations, arriving in spring about the 1st of April, or 

 a trifle later, and remaining until about the first week in May. 

 They appear in very small scattered parties, or singly. While 

 with us they seem to become paired, as in shooting one, another 

 one is almost sure to flush, and quite certain to be if hunted 

 with a dog, when the two are found to represent opposite 

 sexes. They are usually found on dry meadows near to that 

 which is somewhat wet, and their food is principally crickets 

 in spring, interlarded with various dry-land larvsG, small beetles 

 and ground worms. In the fall the grasshoppers are first 

 chosen, after which crickets and whatever other insects prevail 

 at the season. They remain almost unobserved by any one 

 except the sportsman until about the 20th of October before 

 moving away southward, but are not all gone very quickly then. 



Never really abundant, but uniformly fairly common in their 

 migrations, and now well known to breed in nearly all portions 

 of the State to some extent. It was not until I had been on a 

 close lookout for their local habits in this respect for many 

 years that I obtained a nest with three eggs, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Herman. Having often seen some of these birds in the 

 market in June, in the earlier years of my residence here, I 

 could have no doubts of their breeding here, and I had read in 

 the Pacific Railroad Reports that ' 'This species has been as- 

 certained to breed abundantly in Wisconsin by Professor T. 

 Kumlein, an energetic cultivator of zoological science, now 

 resident in that state," when I was directed to the locality where 

 the birds had been observed by a hunting friend of mine. It 

 was no small task to find the nest, but the reward was amply 

 satisfactory. It was placed directly on the ground, which was 

 hollowed out somewhat, and consisted of a small quantity of 

 dried grass, loosely disposed, and containing three eggs, col 

 ored yellowish-gray with spots of amber thickly scattered 

 around the larger end. Since then. I have received satisfac- 

 tory assurances that they have been found by others in several 

 sections of the State. Their habits, and their relative num- 

 bers, make observations of them during the incubating season 

 extremely difficult. 



