156 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



thicker at the base in the Semipalmated Sandpiper. The usual 

 call notes are also readily separable, that of the Least always 

 having a strong ee sound. Such characters are available 

 only to those students who know both birds well. The less 

 experienced are advised to use the color of the legs only. 



An even more difficult proposition is to identify the West- 

 ern Sandpiper. The greater average length of the bill is not 

 a field character. There remains only color. In summer 

 plumage the Western Sandpiper differs from the Semi- 

 palmated exactly as does the Least, but this difference is 

 slightly more intensified. I have yet to be convinced that it is 

 possible to distinguish these two species satisfactorily in 

 winter plumage, and it is certain that only the merest hand- 

 ful of field ornithologists who have given special study to 

 these birds, are competent to make a sight record of the 

 Western Sandpiper, worthy of serious consideration. It is 

 worth noting that slight as these characters appear on paper, 

 the tameness of the birds frequently enables them to be 

 observed. In a closely bunched flock in spring plumage, the 

 rustier tone of a Western is quite noticeable at twenty-five 

 feet, and should it be a female, the bill is appreciably longer. 



The Semipalmated Sandpiper arrives about the end of 

 July on Long Island, but a few birds appear earlier. By the 

 first week in September the great majority have passed 

 south. As with nearly all Shore-birds, the height of the 

 spring migration is the last week in May. In our area the 

 bird is rare or unknown in inland localities. 



Long Island. Abundant transient. April 28 to June 13 (June 

 22) ; (June 27) July 4 to October 15. 



ORIENT. Common transient; May 15, 1905 to June 4, 

 1917; July 6, 1908 to October 2, 1912. 



MASTIC. Irregular in spring, abundant in fall. 

 LONG BEACH. Abundant transient, April 30, 1922 (Fried- 

 mann) to June 28, 1917 (Bicknell) and July 2, 1921 (Bicknell); 

 July 5, 1917 (Bicknell) to October 18, 1917 and October 26, 

 1916 (Bicknell). 



