WADERS 263 



Wilson Snipe. Gallinago delicata (Ord) 



Field characters. — A 'wader' of about size of Robin; bill slender and very long 

 (2y2 inches). Head and back longitudinally streaked with black and buff; belly white; 

 breast mottled with buffy drab and dark brown. Of retiring habits and usually soli- 

 tary. Flight, when flushed, quick and erratic. Voice: A rasping scaipe, scaipe. 



Occurrence. — Transient (and probably also a summer visitant) in vicinity of Mono 

 Lake; winter visitant near Snelling. Frequents moist grasslands, and margins of ponds 

 and irrigation ditches. 



Our field workers observed the Wilson Snipe in winter only at Snelling 

 (January 7 and 8, 1915) and Lagrange (December 20, 1915), and in 

 summer only in the marshes near Mono Lake (May 21, 1916). In no 

 instance were more than two birds seen at one time, and these only as they 

 were flushed from the shelter of the grass. 



A juvenile male obtained near Williams Butte on September 22, 1915, 

 still had some of the natal down clinging to the plumage of the thighs. 



Least Sandpiper. Pisobia miimtilla (Vieillot) 



Field characters. — A 'wader' of about size of Junco; bill slender, about % inch long. 

 Feet and legs greenish, not black. Upper surface streaked brown and black; under 

 surface white save for indistinct belt of ashy or drab across breast. Voice: A plaintive 

 pe-et or tvheet. 



Occurrence. — Sparse transient. Recorded at Smith Creek, six miles east of Coulter- 

 ville, in May, and at Mono Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada, in May and September. 

 Runs over flat open margins of lakes or streams. In small active flocks. 



The Least Sandpiper, the smallest of our shore birds, is so widely dis- 

 tributed elsewhere during the seasons of migration that it was no surprise 

 to find it in the Yosemite section. At the mouth of Rush Creek on Mono 

 Lake a trio of small sandpipers, believed to be of this species, was seen on 

 May 6, 1916. In September, 1901, the species was identified positively at 

 Mono Lake by Dr. W. K. Fisher (1902, p. 10). 



On the west side of the mountains, on Smith Creek, 6 miles east of 

 Coulterville, a Least Sandpiper was taken by Mr. Donald D. McLean on 

 May 5, 1917. It is not unlikely that individual birds or flocks occur with 

 some frequency along open shores elsewhere in the region. 



Spotted Sandpiper. Actitis macularia (Linnaeus) 



Field characters. — A 'wader' between Robin and Junco in size; of slender build, 

 with long legs, slender neck, and short tail. Upper surface olive brown; under surface, 

 in summer adults, white with numerous rounded black spots; wing crossed by a narrow 

 white band, readily seen in flight; outer tail feathers barred with brown and white. 

 Course of flight usually semicircular, the bird skimming low over the water. When on 



