BIKDS. Ill 



the lakes aud streams; a little later and the borders of these situations are edged with ice, and 

 most of the birds leave for the south, but some of the hardier ones betake themselves to the sea- 

 shore, where they join with Cones's Sandpiper, and remain as late as the 12th or 13th of the 

 month. 



Soon after they arrive in spring they are engaged in pairing, and the males may be seen upon 

 quivering wings flying after the female and uttering a musical, trilling note, which falls upon the 

 ear like the mellow tinkle of large water-drops falling rapidly into a partly filled vessel. Imagine 

 the sounds thus produced by the water run together into a steady aud rapid trill some five to ten 

 seconds in lengthy and the note of this Sandpiper is represented. It is not load, but has a rich, 

 full tone, difficult to describe, but pleasant to hear among the discordant notes of the various 

 water-fowl whose hoarse cries arise on all sides. As the lover's suit approaches its end, the 

 handsome suitor becomes exalted, and iu his moments of excitement he rises 15 or 20 yards, and, 

 hovering on tremulous wings over the object of his passion, pours forth a perfect gnsh of music, 

 until he glides back to earth exhausted, but ready to repeat the effort a few minutes later. j.he 

 female coyly retreats before the advances of the male, but after various mishajjs each bird finds its 

 partner for the summer and they start off house-hunting in all the ardor of a rising honeymoon. 

 They generally choose some dry knoll, or other slight elevation, overlooking the neighboring lakes 

 and pools. Here, upon a bed of last year's grasses, but without the trouble of arranging a formal 

 nest, the female deposits three or four large eggs of a pale greenish varying to pale brownish clay 

 color with dull chocolate and umber brown spots and blotches. 



In some specimens the markings are rather sniall and numerous over the entire shell, but in 

 all cases the larger end has the usual predominance of blotching. In other specimens the markings 

 form blotches or large spots, rather sparingly distributed at the small end, but nearly hiding the 

 ground color at the large end. There is considerable variation in size, as well as color, among 

 these eggs, as the following measurements show: 1.50 by 1.10; 1.39 by .98; 1.45 by .95; 1.50 by 

 1.08. After the eggs are laid the male evidently becomes a wiser and a sadder bird, for his merry 

 trill is heard no longer, and, should some wandering naturalist happen along and start a sitting 

 bird from the eggs, the chances are equal that he finds the female is not " at home," but that it is 

 the poor male who has fallen a victim to his faithful care of the nest. 



On two occasions I started these birds from their eggs, and in each instance the parent flut- 

 tered and stumbled along the ground, trying to distract my attention, and in each case examination 

 showed it to be the male, and the two large, bare patches on the breast showed that they were 

 accustomed to the task. Females shot at the same season showed the same marks of incubation, 

 so it is evident that the work is shared by the two parents. The earliest nest found by me was on 

 June 6, and the latest on July 3; in both the eggs were fresh. 



The young are generally on the wing by the middle of July, or a little later, and by the first 

 of August the birds begin to gather in flocks. A young bird in its first plumage is as follows: 

 Centers of feathers on the crown blackish, with well-marked dingy fulvous or buffy edgings; back, 

 scapulars, and tertials with black centers, and a mixed edging of grayish, dull, buffy yellow, shading 

 into rusty, especially on the tertiaries ; rump dark fuscous brown ; sides of head and neck smoky 

 fuscous brown ; a chin -patch of white; the rest of throat pale smoky brown, shading into a buffy 

 brown of breast, each feather having a dark center ; these dark centers are much hidden by 

 the broad, overlaying brown edgings; from the breast, extending back over the area occupied by 

 the black breast patch of the adult, the feathers are tipped with dull, faint brownish black ; rest 

 of the under surface white ; the wing-coverts are edged with pale buff. This plumage gives place 

 very rapidly to the winter dress. 



An adult bird from Greenland has the throat and breast markings very distinct ; there is a 

 predominance of the black centers of dorsal feathers, and the rusty-red edgings are narrow and 

 much darker than ordinarily. Whether this is characteristic of the Greenland birds or not cannot 

 be decided from the scanty material at hand. These Greenland specimens have been considered as 

 identical with the Old World form by Mr. Eidgway. Specimens secured by me in Northeastern 

 Siberia are the same as the Alaskan birds. There is much individual variation in these birds at 

 all seasons. 



