400 Dixon, The Spoon-billed Sandpiper. [o"t. 



I reached the place. Soon a second bird, presumably the female, 

 arrived on the scene. Both appeared much concerned and from 

 their actions I felt sure that there were young near by. A careful 

 search of the short grass, which was not over two inches high, 

 failed to reveal any living creature. I therefore retired to a grassy 

 mound about twenty yards away and awaited developments. 

 Both parent birds, giving their alarm notes, circled about overhead, 

 where they were soon joined by a pair each of Eastern Least and 

 Temminck's Stints. The two pairs of stints were later found to have 

 broods of downy young in the grass on the opposite shore of the 

 lagoon near by. Soon both Spoon-bills flew off across the lagoon 

 and disappeared, but the male returned promptly, alighting quietly 

 near the margin of the pond. Here he stood motionless for nearly 

 a minute, and then trotted through the grass directly to the spot 

 from which I had first flushed him. At this point he stood still 

 for another full minute, during which time he looked all around, 

 seemingly to make sure that the coast was clear. Having satisfied 

 himself that no active enemy was in sight he stepped forward and 

 bending over uttered a soft call in a low tone " plee-plee-plee." 

 This call was repeated a second time, and instantly there arose 

 directly in front of him a tiny mouse-like brown form, seemingly 

 rising from out of the very ground. With tottering unsteady steps 

 the downy young sandpiper stumbled and fell toward the parent, 

 who continued calling and encouraging it. 



Upon my sudden appearance, the old bird gave a quick warning 

 note and at this signal the youngster squatted motionless with neck 

 stretched forward on the ground. Although I knew the exact spot 

 where it disappeared, it was some time before I was able to locate 

 the tiny form, so well did it blend with the clump of reddish moss 

 upon which it had squatted. A careful search revealed no other 

 young sandpipers so I returned to my hiding place. This time I 

 had to wait longer for the male to return and, while I was waiting, 

 a second sandpiper which I believed to be the female arrived but 

 did not go near or call the young. 



Two or three minutes elapsed this time between the return of 

 the male and the giving of the low call note's, when as before 

 another downy young quickly arose at the signal and toddled over 

 to its parent. After this second experience I was forced to change 



