BIRDS. . 113 



Straits, where, with the first bare spot iu June, it became so commoH that they were served twice 

 upon the gun-room mess-table of his vessel. Nordenskjold supposes it not to nest there; but this 

 is evidently erroneous. He suggests that the bird may go farther north to breed, but as it is found 

 in summer from Plover Bay to Cape Wankarem, which latter place is west of Nordenskjold's winter- 

 quarters, on the same coast, it would seem certain that this portion of Siberia forms the breeding 

 ground of this strange species. Specimens were seen also by me on several occasions at this last- 

 named place, early in August, 1881, so it is certain that the bird remains throughout the summer 

 along this shore. 



Ereunetes occidentalis Lawr. Western Sandpiper (Esk. Libv-i-Ubv-t-lu-Uk). 



As the snow disappears on the low ground about Norton Sound, from the 10th to the 15th ot 

 May each year, and the ponds, still ice-covered, are bordered by a ring of water, these gentle 

 birds arrive on the shore of Bering Sea, in the vicinity of Saint Michaels and the Yukon mouth . 

 The advancing season finds their numbers continually augmented until, toward the end of May, 

 they are extremely common and are found scattered everywhere over the mossy flats and low 

 hill-sides. Their gentle character and trusting ways render them very attractive to the frequenter 

 of their territory at this season. 



The warm days towards the end of May cause the brown slopes and flats to assume a shade 

 of green, and among the many pretty bird-romances going on under our eyes none is more charming 

 than the courtship of this delicate Sandpiper. They have forsaken the borders of icy i^ools 

 and, in twos and threes, are found scattered over the tundra, showing a preference for small dry 

 knolls and the drier tussock-covered parts of the country in the vicinity of damp spots and small 

 ponds. Here the gentle birds may be S(5en at all times tripping daintily over the moss or in and 

 out among the tufts of grass, conversing with each other in low, pleasant, twittering notes, and 

 never showing any sign of the wrangling so frequent with their kind at this season. The female 

 modestly avoids the male as he pays his homage, running back and forth before her as though 

 anxious to exhibit his tiny form to the best advantage. At times his heart beats high with pride 

 and he trails his wings, elevates and partly spreads his tail, and struts in front of his lady fair in 

 all the pompous vanity of a pigmy turkey-cock ; or his blood courses in a fiery stream until, 

 filled with ecstatic joy, the sanguine lover springs from the earth, and risiug upon vibrating wings, 

 some ten or fifteen yards, he poises, hovering in the same position, sometimes nearly a minute, while 

 he pours forth a rapid, uniform series of rather musical trills, which vary in strength as they 

 gradually rise and fall, producing pleasant cadences. The wings of the songster meanwhile 

 vibrate with such rapid motion that they appear to keep time with the rapidly trilling notes, which 

 can only be likened to the running down of a small spring and may be represented by the syllables 

 tzrr-e-e-e, zr-e-e-e-, zr-e-ee, in a fine high-pitched toue, with an impetus at each "z." This part of 

 the song ended, the bird raises its wings above its back, thus forming a V, and glides slowly to the 

 ground, uttering at the same time, in a trill, but with a deeper and richer tone, a series of notes 

 which may be likened to the syllables tzur-r-r-r, tzur-r-r-r. The word " throaty" may be applied 

 to these latter notes as distinguished from the high-pitched key of the first part of the song. 

 Beside the trilling song, which may be characterized in some respects as a finer and weaker copy of 

 the song of Tringa americana, the Semipalmated Sandpiper has a variety of low, happy, twittering 

 vocalizations used when feeding with its companions or addressing the female. Very soon after 

 the real duties of the season begin the joyous songster forgets his lay and betakes himself to 

 the more matter-of-fact duties which are his as the father of a family. By the first of June, and 

 earlier in some seasons, they have eggs, and in one instance young were found the 7th of June. 

 Their nests are usuallj^ upon the drier parts of the tundra, generally on a mossy hummock or 

 slight swell. A sheltering bunch of dwarf willow or a few grass stems in a tuft form a favorite 

 cover. The male keeps near by and rises now and then to utter his song in an exulting tone, 

 but as the honeymoon wanes he loses much of his musical character. The females vary much 

 in their actions when disturbed from the nest. In some cases they fly off a few yards and proceed 

 to feed with perfect indifference; others flutter about under the intruder's feet, with head down 

 and trailing wings, falling every few feet and beating the wings upon the ground, apparently just 

 ready to expire. 



S. Mis. 156 15 



