WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS 



(Pisobia fuscicollis) are placed by sports- 

 men in that class of small species known as 

 "Peeps," too small to be worth the taking, 

 the present species measuring but little more 

 than 7 in. in length. Yet they have their 

 dangers, for youthful hunters, unable to 

 stalk larger game, often practice on these and 

 I have known of men old enough to know 

 better, to fire into flocks of "Peeps" just to 

 see how many they could get. They breed 

 on our Arctic coast and migrate most abun- 

 dantly through the Mississippi Valley, but 

 also in numbers along the Atlantic coast to 

 southern South America. The upper bird 

 shows this species in its summer plumage; 

 it is a trifle grayer in winter, being about the 

 same color as the bird below, from which it is 

 of course easily identified by the white rump 

 patch; the breast of the present species is 

 also more heavily streaked than that of the 

 next. 



BAIRD SANDPIPER (Pisobia bairdi}. 

 This species, which has a dark rump, is of the 

 same size as the last. Either kind may be 

 found in flocks composed only of their own 

 species or in mixed flocks of the two and 

 other smaller sandpipers. Both species are 

 very confiding and will allow anyone to ap- 

 proach within a few feet of them as they run 

 about at the water's edge gathering the tiny 

 insects that are always present in abun- 

 dance. Like the last, these birds migrate most commonly through the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, but they also occur on both coasts. 



LEAST SANDPIPER (Pisobia minutilla). The most diminutive of all 

 our sandpipers, but almost matched by the Semi-palmated, being only 6 in. in 

 length. The toes are wholly devoid of webbing, the back is browner and the 

 breast more distinctly streaked than that of the other species of similar size. 

 These sandpipers breed in the northern half of Canada and Alaska, and win- 

 ter from southern United States southward occurring during migrations 

 throughout the land. They are almost devoid of fear and are seldom and 

 ought never to be shot. 



WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER 

 BAIRD SANDPIPER 

 LEAST SANDPIPER 



34 



