37 2 The PVater-fowl Family 



flocks. These birds, which are the young of the 

 year, keep pretty much together on the marshes, 

 sometimes feeding with the golden plover. I 

 have often noticed the birds together on the Mag- 

 dalen Islands; here the kriekers if undisturbed 

 remain in the same locations. When they take 

 wing, they fly in a compact bunch, and if within 

 range, an opportunity is offered of killing many 

 birds at a shot. The flocks increase in numbers 

 until late in the month, when the last arrivals 

 seem to have come. This same flight is notice- 

 able to a less extent farther south, and on the 

 New England and Long Island coasts the young 

 pectorals are found in October, coming perhaps 

 after a storm or heavy weather. These birds follow 

 along our coast to South America, stopping at the 

 West Indies, extending their flight even to Pata- 

 gonia. The spring flight is over the interior along 

 the Mississippi Valley. Very few are taken at this 

 time on the Atlantic Coast. The return trip is 

 made in May, and the pectoral sandpiper is often 

 a common bird in the markets of the West at this 

 time. Until a recent description of their breed- 

 ing habits by Nelson, little has been known of 

 this subject. He says, the pectoral sandpiper 

 reaches St. Michael and the shores of Bering 

 Sea about the middle of May, the birds then 

 pair. During the mating season the male has a 

 peculiar habit of inflating the throat and uttering 



