212 Moore, Least Sandpiper in the Magdalen Islands. LApril 



amount and arrangement of markings. One set was so heavily 

 blotched with varying shades of dark brown that the background 

 was hardly visible at any point, while a second set was blotched 

 only about the larger end and spotted on the sides and small end. 

 The general appearance of the second was buffy, while that of the 

 first was chocolate. Still a third set differed from these in having 

 two dark eggs like the first and two light like the second. 



All four of the marsh nests were found on June 17, when three 

 possessed the full complement of eggs. By June 22 the nest, 

 which had on the 17th but one egg, now contained four. On this 

 same date, the 22nd, eggs of one of tlie marsh nests hatched and 

 these chicks left the home before the morning of the 24th. The 

 24th also witnessed the discovery of the field nest, which at that 

 time contained four eggs somewhat incubated. These hatched 

 between June 25th and July 1st. It appears from this that some 

 of the females must have begun laying as early as June 5, and on 

 the other hand, one certainly did not start much before the 16th. 

 It must be remembered that this season, as far as the Magdalen 

 Islands were concerned, was late and unusually wet. Unfortu- 

 nately I have no dates, other than those given above, from which 

 to calculate the length of the incubation period. All that I can 

 definitely assert is that it lasts longer than seven days. Not until 

 the clutch is complete does incubation begin, for all the eggs in 

 one nest hatched within a period, not longer than twenty-four 

 hours. There is a possibility that two broods are reared, since one 

 female, collected on the 24th after she flushed from the set, not 

 completed till the 22nd, exhibited a red-centered condition of four 

 of the ovaries, which made the laying of a second set potentially 

 possible. 



The young are certainly precocious, leaving the nest at least by 

 the first day after birth and, thereafter, being able to find their 

 food and take care of themselves. At sunset, June 22, the first egg 

 of one clutch hatched before my eyes and forty hours later on June 

 24 all of the young had left the nest. The parent who had brooded 

 them was walking about, within a few feet of the deserted home but 

 despite diligent search, no trace of her young could be discovered. 

 At this early stage of development their various shades of cinnamon 

 and brown render them inconspicuous and their small size completes 



