120 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 



to Patagonia (Dumford), but more abundantly on the Atlantic than the Pacific 

 coast. 



It bears a general resemblance to the Dunlin, and is of about the same size. 

 Both have sharp-pointed tails, {i.e., the central pair of tail-feathers are the longest, 

 and the outermost pair the shortest) and therein differ, in company with T. acuminata 

 and T. fuscicollis from the rest of the Tringas. This bird may be separated from 

 the Dunlin by its light coloured legs (which are light yellow-brown, instead of 

 black), longer hind toe, much smaller amount of white on the secondaries (only the 

 narrowest white margin on the inner web, while the greater part is white in the 

 Dunlin), and by the colour of the lower neck and breast. In the Dunlin these 

 are brown (gre5rish in winter) and very little darker than the chin and throat, and 

 are streaked slightly along the shafts of the feathers with rather darker brown ; 

 in the present species the lower neck and breast are noticeably darker than the 

 upper part of the neck, forming a conspicuous pectoral band, (whence the name 

 pcdoralis, no doubt), which in older birds is marked with dark sooty-brown arrow 

 heads (/^, the long middle line corresponding with the shaft of the feather; in 

 young birds the markings are merely equally dark shaft-stripes. The Pectoral 

 Sandpiper never puts on a black breast in summer, and, therefore, never shows 

 traces of it in autumn ; below the pectoral band, or belt, the under parts are pure 

 white at all seasons. Length, males, about 8J inches, closed wing 5I to 5^. 

 Females are yf to 8 inches long, wing \\ to 5. 



The nest was long unknown, and was first found by the U.S. Expedition to 

 Point Barrow, Alaska, in 1882-3. '^^^ nest is amongst grass, a preference being 

 sho%vn for high and dry localities, such as the banks of gullies and streams, never 

 in the swamps. The eggs are drab, or greenish-drab, in ground colour, blotched 

 with umber-brown, and measure i'5 by I'l inch. 



The Pectoral Sandpiper frequents wet grassy meadows, ponds, and flats. In 

 some respects it is Snipe-like, and never flocks on the sea-beach with the smaller 

 Sandpipers. (N.B. — the )-oung birds muster in flocks in the breeding quarters 

 before leaving for the winter). At times it has a towering flight like that of a 

 Suipe. At pairing time the male has the power of inflating the throat like a 

 "Pouter" Pigeon; it forms "a swelling which hangs like a great goitre on the 

 breast " ; at such times he murmurs " hoo-hoo " like a domestic Pigeon making 

 love; at other times the note is an ordinary Sandpiper "wit-wit." The food 

 consists of insects principally, especially small beetles. 



The above details are mostly from Elliott Coues' " Key to North American 

 Birds" (1884), and Murdoch's "Report on the Point Barrow (Alaska) Expedition" 

 (Birds). 



