THE PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 507 



No. 232. 

 PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 



A. O. U. No. 239. Actodromas maculata (Vieill.). 



Synonyms. GRASS SNIPE; KRIEKER. 



Description. Adult : Above, ground-color, blackish, everywhere heavily 

 margined, and thus finely streaked, with ochraceous-buff, ochraceous, or rusty, 

 and with some grayish or whitish edging on the larger feathers ; darker on crown, 

 where streaked with rusty only; wing-quills dusky, the first primary only with 

 white shaft ; rump and upper tail-coverts black, delicately tipped with rusty ; tail 

 sharply pointed, the central feathers longest, blackish centrally, brownish gray 

 laterally, with ochraceous or white edging; below, sides of head and neck, fore- 

 neck and breast finely, sharply, and heavily streaked with dusky on a dull white 

 or buffy ground ; throat and remaining under parts white ; bill and feet greenish 

 dusky. Coloring in winter perhaps more blended. There seems to be no con- 

 stant difference between summer and winter plumages, conflicting authorities 

 to the contrary. Immature : A little brighter-colored above, with sharper mark- 

 ings and more rusty, and with considerable white edging on larger feathers of 

 back; the breast more deeply buffy, and the streaks, if possible, more numer- 

 ous. Length 8.00-9.50 (203.2-241.3); av. of seven Columbus specimens: wing 

 5.40 (137.2); tail 2.67 (67.8); bill 1.17 (29.7); tarsus i.io (27.9). 



Recognition Marks. Chewink size, but appearing larger; fine streaking 

 of fore-neck and breast on heavy ground, contrasting with pure white of throat 

 and belly, distinctive for size. 



Nesting. Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground. Eggs, 4, drab, 

 sometimes with a greenish shade, spotted and blotched with reddish brown. Av. 

 size, 1.45 x 1.04 (36.8 x 26.4). 



General Range. The whole of North America and the West Indies, and 

 the greater part of South America. Breeds in the Arctic regions. Of frequent 

 occurrence in Europe. 



Range in Ohio. Quite common spring, less common fall migrant. 



DURING the days of heaviest rainfall, in middle April, the Pectoral 

 Sandpiper enjoys the most general distribution of any of the waders. Caring 

 nothing- at this season for the presence of lake or stream, it is to be seen 

 wherever the surfeited ground sustains a pool of undrunk water. Prairie 

 pastures are likely to swarm with them for at least a day or two; and mead- 

 ows prove most attractive to this grass-loving Snipe. 



When startled, a flock of fifty Sandpipers moves off as one bird, wheel- 

 ing and turning at precisely the same moment, and presenting in the morn- 

 ing light a pleasing alternation of flashing white, when the under parts are 

 exposed, and somber gray, when the backs appear. While on the wing, 

 the birds keep up a desultory cross-fire of peculiar, wild, creaking notes; 

 but upon alighting-, they scatter widely in search of food and are mainly 



