172 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



favorable, large " flights " of the Grass-bird sometimes occur in the autumn, 

 long hoped for by the gunners along the shore. Then the professional gunner 

 sends telegrams to his clients, and the sportsmen hasten from the cities hoping 

 to arrive before the flight has passed. A large flight of this sort took place 

 early in October, 1899, when in a northeast wind hundreds of flocks of 

 Grass-birds poured over the marshes at Ipswich in "bunches" of from five 

 to one hundred for about three hours. These flights may occur once or twice 

 in a season or not at all. Between the 10th and 20th of August, 1898, there 

 was a considerable flight of these birds and again in late September, in 1904. 



The Pectoral Sandpiper frequents the salt marshes and is particularly fond 

 of the more elevated portions which are sometimes flooded with rain water. 

 Here in the " black-grass," they scatter, and, rising singly, they often twist and 

 turn somewhat like a Wilson's Snipe. They are not shy, but they generally 

 pay but scant attention to decoys, perhaps swinging towards them only as they 

 fly by. Their note is a characteristic one, easily recognized : a sharp grating 

 kriek or crrrik, at times like a very shrill rolling whistle. In New Jersey they 

 are called " Kriekers," which name, Trumbull 1 says "was not applied, as popu- 

 larly believed, because of the bird's creaking note, but because of its crouching 

 or squatting habit — German Kriecher, a cringing person." 



Even on the wing, the difference in size of the two sexes is noticeable, for, 

 unlike many other shore birds, the male is here the larger. This fact is noticed 

 by the gunners, some of the older maintaining that there are two species. 



As Hoffmann says, 2 they "look like a large edition of the Least Sandpiper." 

 Their size, as well as their black rumps easily distinguish them from the much 

 smaller White-rumped Sandpiper. Their brown backs are often difficult to see 

 in the dry grass of the marshes. In mudholes or bare places one may see their 

 straw-colored legs and base of the bill. 



103 [240] Actodromas fuscicollis (Vieill.). 



White-rumped Sandpiper ; Bonaparte's Sandpiper ; " Bull-peep." 



Rare spring and common autumn transient visitor ; June 5 ; July 10 to 

 November 10. 



In the autumn, the White-rumped Sandpiper is a very early and a very late 



1 Gurdon Trumbull : Names and Portraits of Birds, p. 176, 1888. 



2 Ralph Hoffmann : A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York, p. 270, 1904. 



