704 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



HIDING IN THE OPEN 

 Pectoral Sandpipers crouch on the shore to escape detection. 



South America though 

 good stopping places were 

 plentiful. When instinct 

 compels birds to make such 

 a trip, it is little wonder 

 that it carries some of them 

 on southward far beyond 

 the bounds of reason and 

 good sense, even to Cape 

 Horn, a distance of per- 

 haps 9,000 miles from their 

 nesting grounds. 



In former years all of 

 these shorebirds were con- 

 sidered game birds and 

 were shot in such numbers 

 that some of the species 

 were nearly exterminated. 

 This was possible because 

 they ordinarily fly in close 

 flocks so that many can be killed at a single discharge 

 of the gun. Now, through the Migratory Bird Treaty 

 with Great Britain, they have passed under Federal 

 jurisdiction and all save a few species are given pro- 

 tection. Of all the shore-birds, only the yellow legs, 

 the Wilson's snipe, the woodcock, and the black-bellied 

 and golden plovers remain on the game list for which 

 there is an open season. 



The commonest species of sandpiper is the spotted 

 sandpiper, "tip-up" or "teeter-tail" as it is variously 

 called. In summer it is found along almost every stream 

 and lake from Northwestern Alaska to Louisiana, and 

 in winter, from Louisiana to Southern Brazil. It can 

 be distinguished from the other sandpipers of its size, 

 about that of a sparrow, by the conspicuous spots on 

 its underparts. In the fall, however, these are lost and 

 it would be hard to identify were it not for its constant 

 teetering. Several other species, and especially the 

 solitary sandpiper, jerk their heads when they walk, 

 but the spotted teeters its tail or its whole body as 



though it had difficulty in balancing on its slender legs. 

 It flies with a peculiar hovering movement of its wings 

 which show a narrow gray line down the middle. 



The solitary sandpiper is perhaps the next most com- 

 mon species inland. Although it probably does not nest 

 in the United States, it is very late in moving north- 

 ward in the spring and early in returning in the fall 

 so that except for the month of June, it is nearly as 

 common in most places as the spotted. It is somewhat 

 larger and darker than the spotted sandpiper and lacks 

 the spots on its underparts and shows conspicuous white 

 outer tail feathers when it flies. It is the one sandpiper 

 that seems to prefer woodland pools and it ventures 

 among the trees quite readily. 



The yellowlegs are similar in color pattern to the 

 solitary sandpiper, but are grayer and have whiter tails. 

 There are two species, the greater and the lesser which 

 are almost identical except for size. Indeed when there 



are no other birds about 

 so that the size can be cor- 

 rectly judged, it is some- 

 times impossible to tell 

 which species is under 

 observation. When they 

 take flight, their notes will 

 often announce them for 

 the smaller species never 

 gives but two notes to- 

 g e t h e r, "wheu - wheu," 

 while the greater gives 

 three or more in succes- 

 sion, "wheu, wheu-wheu- 

 wheu-wheu, wheu, wheu- 

 wheu." The yellowlegs 

 have withstood the on- 

 slaught of the gunners 

 better than any of the 

 other species and are still 



OCTOBER MORN 

 A lesser Yellow Legs feeding in the early morning. 



THE WHITEST OF THE SANDPIPERS THE SANDERLING 



is likewise the only Sandpiper with but three toes. It prefers the 

 drier sandier shores. 



