1912 J Moore, Least Sandpiper in the Magdalen Islands. 22o 



did the singing, and that the males spent the day hours some 

 distance from the marsh-homes and, if they incubated at all, did 

 so at night. Two facts remain positive: that the incubating 

 birds did the singing and that one female both incubated and sang! 

 I cannot close this paper without adding a just tribute to the 

 song of these wee sprites. Of course, it cannot compare in power, 

 melody, and rich depth of tone with the song of the Fox Sparrow, 

 the prima donna of the Magdalens, nor can it claim attention 

 beside the productions of the Hermit Thrush and the Song Sparrow, 

 which however are rare, at least in the eastern part of the islands. 

 But after these three major songsters are disposed of, it will be 

 found to rank high up, if not at the head of those that are left, 

 the Rusty Blackbird, Savannah Sparrow, the Kinglets and nearly 

 the whole group of Warblers. Only two of the minor musicians 

 present in the Magdalens, the Water Thrush and the Horned Lark, 

 can equal the effusion of the wee Sandpiper. This is a remarkable 

 fact, when one remembers that none of the other shore bu-ds, at 

 least those summering in the Magdalens, — the Ring-necked and 

 the Piping Plovers, the Spotted Sandpiper, and the Wilson's Snipe 

 — utter anything that even by courtesy may be termed a song ! 

 The Sand-peep, alone of his tribe, dares to contest with the real 

 songsters and does so creditably. Indeed, after that one glorious 

 song of the Magdalens, the Fox Sparrow's, is excluded, I will 

 always remember longest and hold dearest this sweet rippling sky 

 song, that somehow, perhaps on account of the aerial quarter 

 from which it comes, perhaps on account of the sweet character of its 

 author, touches some chord within me nearer to affection than 

 many of the bird-songs, held up for unquestioning admiration, 

 are able to reach. 



