386 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



When the birds reach their breeding grounds in the north some 

 are already paired, but the great majority do not pair until soon after 

 they arrive. The males pursue the females with a quivering flight 

 and often hover over them at a height of 15 or 20 yards, uttering a 

 mellow tinkling song resembling the dropping of water into a partly 

 filled pail. After the eggs are laid this song is no longer heard; the 

 males then assist the females in the duties of incubation, and appar- 

 ently spend a good share of their time on the nest (Murdoch, 1885, p. 

 113; Nelson, 1887, p. 111). 



The young, which are hatched some time around the first of July 

 (specimens were taken on July 6 in one case [Cooke, 1910, p. 44]), 

 are on the wing and flocking along the shore by the first of August. 

 From this time until about the last of September the young birds 

 wear the juvenile plumage, but by the first of October the winter 

 plumage, which is similar to that of the adults at the same season, has 

 been assumed. Some of the birds have left before this time, as they 

 appear along our southern coasts by the middle of September ; but the 

 rest linger in the north until about the first of October when a cold 

 snap usually drives all but a few of the most hardy individuals south- 

 ward (Nelson, 1887, pp. 110-111). 



Emerson (1904, p. 38) found birds of this species dead on the 

 marshes near Hayward, Alameda County, where they had been killed 

 by flying against telegraph wires strung across the marsh, thus meeting 

 a fate common to many of the smaller species of shore birds in that 

 vicinity. 



Red-backed Sandpipers feed on the various forms of animal life 

 found along the seashore. Oyster-worms {Nereis) and water beetles 

 have been found in their stomachs (McAtee, 1911a), as well as 

 Crustacea and small shellfish. The destruction of the two former 

 kinds of animals is a distinct benefit, and in retiirn for this the birds 

 should, perhaps, receive some consideration. They are barely large 

 enough to be classed as legitimate game. If so considered, the bag- 

 limit should be carefully regulated so as to prevent the wholesale 

 slaughter to which the habits of the species subject it. In the fall 

 they are fat and considered excellent eating. As with all other species, 

 spring shooting of these Sandpipers should never be countenanced. 



Western Sandpiper 



Ereunetes mauri Cabanis 



Other names — Peeps, part; Pigmies, part; Pups; Ereunetes occidentalis; 

 Ereunetes pusillus occidentalis; Ereunetes pusillus; Ereunetes 'petrif.catus ; Tringa 

 semipalmata. 



Dbsoription — Adults, both sexes, in late spring and summer: Feathers of 

 top of head, hind neck, and back, black centered, conspicuously margined with 



