66 A BIRD COLEECTORS MEDUENE 
its triple note, ‘* too—too—too,” uttered more slowly than that of the Green- 
shank. More silent, and less fidgety than its congener, it is not often to 
be observed upon the open shore. It may, indeed, once in a way be found 
in a tidal drain amidst the saltings, but the majority fly beyond the sea- 
wall to the fresh-water marsh, and on its open expanse they are, especially 
when associating with Greenshanks, most difficult birds to approach. It was 
here, too, that I had the good fortune to secure a Pectoral Sandpiper 
(Tringa maculata). It rose, with the dash of a Snipe, from a solitary tussock 
on the mere, and though mingling at once with a flock of Dunlin which 
happened to be passing, it was distinguishable even then by its darker 
colours and longer wings. Thrice it took part in their aerial evolutions, 
and then it left them and flew round and round in narrowing circles until 
it pitched again upon the original spot. I failed to get it at the time, but 
when I went straight to the same tussock on the following morning, it rose 
to an easy shot, uttering as it did so a curious double note—‘chup, chup.” 
Mr. D. G. Elliot, in his ‘North American Shore Birds,’ gives a most 
interesting account of the behaviour of this bird at its breeding haunts in 
the Yukon Valley. After the manner of the Grouse tribe, it can in the 
spring extend its throat to an enormous size, and thus adorned it makes 
play for the edification of its mate. 
Avocets have been seen on the same mere, and also Wood Sandpipers 
and Temmincks, and though these localities are soon shot out, and often 
hold nothing at all, yet if there are any of the very rare Waders about 
it is generally here that they are to be met with. 
