402 Dixon, The Spoon-billed Sandpiper. [ " t 



the spatulate tip is more oval, as compared with the angular out- 

 line of the bill of the adult bird. In outline the bill of the young 

 closely resembles the conventional "spade" on playing cards. 



Our observations disclosed no peculiar advantage attending the 

 singular shape of this sandpiper's bill, though careful watch was 

 kept to see just how this member was used. On July 17, 1913, a 

 pair of Spoon-billed Sandpipers was watched for half an hour as 

 the two birds fed within fifty feet of the observer, concealed behind 

 a sandy dune. Their favorite feeding ground was a fresh-water 

 pond with a fringe of green algre about the sandy border. Under 

 these conditions the birds used their bills as any other sandpipers 

 would, as probes to pick out insects or larvse from the algse. Occa- 

 sionally one would hesitate a moment, when the vascular tip of the 

 mandible quivered slightly as though the bird were straining some- 

 thing out of the green algse. At this time the bill was held at 

 nearly right angles to the surface of the water; it was never used 

 as a scoop along the surface. 



The width of the tip of the bill varies greatly in freshly killed 

 specimens, regardless of sex, as shown at time of capture among the 

 twelve specimens we secured. Of two males at hand, one (Mus. 

 Vert. Zool. no. 16699) has a bill with a width of 11.6 mm., while the 

 other (Willett coll., no. 1698) measures only 9.4 mm. in width. 



Comparatively little seems to be known regarding the develop- 

 ment and molt of the young of this species. Koren found young 

 able to run about on July 24, 1909, on the mainland near Koliuchin 

 Island. On July 29 at Cape Wankarem he found young "half 

 fledged" and got one of these on the wing at fifty yards. Gran- 

 ville, as previously detailed, saw what he thought were six im- 

 mature birds of this species in the gray or winter plumage at 

 Wainwright Inlet, Alaska, on August 15, 1914. In spite of the 

 considerable accumulation, during recent years, of data relative 

 to the nesting habits of this peculiar spoon-billed wader, there 

 are many important facts in the life history of this species yet to 

 be ascertained. 



