434 GAME BISBS OF CALIFOBNIA 



ret. The notes are usually uttered when one bird meets another of 

 its kind, as when flying along a stream. The first note may be heard 

 for a distance of half a mile or more and reminds one of the short 

 repeated whistle which a person often uses to call a dog. 



When in its most usual habitat, which is on open sand flats or 

 gravel bars adjacent to streams or lakes, the Spotted Sandpiper 

 employs its time searching for the various small insects, other animals, 

 and plants which comprise its food. While gleaning its food or other- 

 wise occupied it stops for a moment every now and then to "teeter." 

 This movement is described by Stearns and Coues,(1883, p. 242) as 

 follows : 



As often as the . . . [bird] stops in its pursuit of insects, the fore part 

 of the body is lowered a little, the head drawn in, the legs slightly bent, 

 whilst the hinder parts and tail are alternately hoisted with a peculiar jerk, 

 and drawn down again, with the regularity of clock-work. The movement is 

 more conspicuous in the upward than in the downward part of the performance; 

 as if the tail were spring-hinged, in constant danger of flying up, and needed 

 constant presence of mind to keep it down. It is amusing to see an old male 

 in the breeding season busy with this operation. Upon some rock jutting out 

 of the water he stands, swelling with amorous pride and self-sufficiency, puffing 

 out his plumage till he looks twice as big as natural, facing about on his 

 narrow pedestal, and bowing with his hinder parts to all points of the compass. 



Another marked peculiarity of the Spotted Sandpiper is its man- 

 ner of flight. If disturbed from a location on the bank it does not 

 fly directly up or down stream away from the source of danger but 

 indulges in a semicircular flight, skimming out over the water and 

 back to the same bank some distance farther on. If, after the danger 

 is gone, the bird desires to return to its original location it does so 

 over the same circling course and not by the shortest direct route. 

 Individuals have a tendency to remain in the same locality and even 

 if frightened away will repeatedly return to it. 



While it is often seen feeding or running about the shore during 

 the day the Spotted Sandpiper would seem to be also somewhat 

 nocturnal. Barrows (1912, p, 203) says: "The Spotted Sandpiper 

 feeds until late in the evening, and possibly is more or less nocturnal, 

 since its notes are frequently heard at night when it cannot be migrat- 

 ing." Belding (1879, p. 441) says: "A bird of this species nightly 

 visited a pond in the rear of the hotel at Murphy's [Calaveras County] 

 in September, 1878. It came about dusk, after the Swallows and 

 Fly-catchers had retired and Bats had taken their places, and circled 

 over the water as if catching flies, although it never made an abrupt 

 curve or cheeked its rapid flight. It kept usually about three feet 

 from the water, but went as high as six or eight feet occasionally. ' ' 



