Sandpipers 



3 6 3 



as they responded so readily to calling and to the decoys, approaching in com- 

 pact bunches which often permitted practically the whole flock to be killed by a 

 single discharge. But principally, however, their destruction was accomplished 

 by approaching them on the beach at night with a bright light. "The mode of 

 procedure was for two men to start out after dark at half tide, and one of them 

 to carry a lighted lantern, and the other to reach and seize the birds, bite their 

 necks, and put them into a bag slung over the shoulder." The species is known 

 to breed on the Parry Islands, Grinnell Land, and the Melville peninsula, but 

 details are mainly lacking. Altogether there are about a dozen other species 

 of Tringa in various portions of North America, but as the habits of all are quite 

 similar to those of the species described, we may only take space to enumerate 

 several of the more important. Thus the Purple Sandpiper (T. maritima) may 

 be known by its brownish gray or ashy breast and fuscous upper tail-coverts; 

 it occurs in northern Europe also; the White-rumped Sandpiper (T. fuscicollis) 

 of eastern North America is only seven and a half inches long and has the upper 

 tail-coverts white; in western North America the last is replaced by the Baird's 

 Sandpiper (T. bairdii), which it much resembles, but may be separated by the 

 fuscous instead of white upper tail-coverts; closely related to the last two but 

 of larger size (nine inches long) is the Pectoral Sandpiper, Krieker, or Grass- 

 Snipe (T. maculata\ which is found more in wet meadows than along the sea- 

 shore; the final American form to be noticed is the Red-backed Sandpiper 

 (T. alpina sakhalina), which has a slightly curved bill. This is the American 

 representative of the well-known Dunlin (T. alpina) of northern Europe and 

 northern Asia, which is exceedingly abundant along the English coasts during 

 the migrations, sometimes coming in such numbers as to resemble " the smoke 

 from the funnel of a steamer." Smallest 

 of all is the Least Sandpiper, or Little 

 Stint (T. minuta], which is only six 

 inches in length; it is a native of 

 northern Europe. 



Sanderling. Quite closely related 

 to the last genus, but lacking the hind 

 toe, is the little Sanderling (Calidris 

 leucoph&a), the sole representative of its 

 genus. It is rusty, spotted with black- 

 ish above and white below, though there 

 is considerable variety in the plumage at 

 different seasons; it is seven or eight 

 inches in length. It breeds in the Arctic regions, but during the remainder of 

 the year it wanders far and wide along the coasts, reaching the extremity of South 

 America, Africa, and even Australia, and the Marshall Islands. 



Spoon-billed Sandpiper. One of the most curious members of the group 

 is the diminutive Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmaus], so 

 called from the fact that the bill is widely expanded and spoon-shaped at the 

 tip, the width of the flattened portion being nearly half an inch. The plumage 



FIG. 122. Sanderling, Calidris leucopliaa. 



