398 Dixon, The Spoon-billed Sandpiper. [oct. 



was not cold and the male bird returned in twelve minutes to the 

 nest, which contained two fresh eggs (Plate V, Fig. 2). 



The most striking fact in the domestic life of the Spoon-billed 

 Sandpiper is that the major portion of the household duties, aside 

 from the actual laying of the eggs, is performed by the male and 

 not the female bird. In addition to our own observations Klein- 

 schmidt also has found this to be the case. He states : " Although 

 our observations were limited to but a few, still I believe the male 

 solely attends to the hatching and rearing of the young" (Thayer, 

 1911, p. 154). In the author's experience, none of the several 

 females taken were found on or within fifty feet of the nest. It is 

 possible, however, that they may have been warned by the male 

 birds and had sneaked off before we were close enough to detect 

 their leaving. 



In the unequal division of domestic duties conditions among the 

 Spoon-bills are similar to those among the Phalaropes where the 

 male, after he has been courted and won by the larger and more 

 brilliant female, takes upon himself almost all of the household 

 cares. However, in the case of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper there 

 is nothing to show that the female does the courting although she 

 is the larger of the two. Mr. Thayer in commenting on the rela- 

 tive size of the sexes states : " In looking over my series of fourteen 

 skins, all adults, I find that the females are larger and their mandi- 

 bles noticeably so" (Thayer, 1911, p. 154). The female Spoon- 

 bill is thus seemingly content to merely lay the eggs, while she lets 

 the male build the nest, incubate the eggs, and take care of the 

 young. In corroboration of the latter statements the author 

 observed a male bird building a nest at Providence Bay, Siberia,. 

 June 22, 1913, another male was flushed repeatedly from a nest 

 containing two fresh eggs near the same place on the same day, 

 while a third male was found tending three downy young at Cape 

 Serdze, Siberia, on July 17, 1913. 



The nest of this Sandpiper was found to be merely a cavity 

 scratched out among the dead grass blades. It was a shallow 

 affair placed where the grass grew thickest (Plate V, Fig. 2). On 

 June 22, 1913, at Providence Bay, the writer witnessed the con- 

 struction of a nest from a distance of about forty feet. The bird, 

 a male, scratched and then picked at the dead and matted grass- 



