The Pectoral Sandpiper 



WE HAVE ALL chuckled speculatively over the linguistic exercises 

 laid out for the Tchuktchis, or the Tschuktschis, or, more obviously, the 

 Chuckcheese; but apart from the difficulty of stuttering "I love you" in 

 Tchuktchese, we'll warrant that life goes on right merrily where the 

 Arctic Circle cuts through Sandpiperland, alias the Tchuktchi Peninsula. 

 Six weeks suffice for the rearing of a family in a land which, in summer, 

 enjoys the benefit of an unsetting sun; and so, for the rest of the year, 

 these happy-hearted children of the North are free to wander — over a 

 hundred degrees of longitude, it is said. Although born Asiatics, the 

 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, following the natural trend of the land-masses, 

 sweep the coasts of western Alaska in the autumnal migrations, preparing, 

 no doubt, to "hop off" somewhere in the Aleutian Islands. A few birds, 

 novices, for they are always young-of-the-year, hug the American shore 

 instead and straggle down the northwestern coast. Four birds were 

 taken (not preserved) by J. M. Edson at Bellingham, Washington, in 

 September, 1892. And now Mr. Anthony, on lookout at that stronghold 

 of opportunity, San Diego, has clinched the United States record by a 

 specimen, a young male, secured on the 16th of September, 1921. Mr. 

 Anthony on the same day glimpsed another flock of eight or ten birds 

 which he surmised were of this species. 



No. 238 



Pectoral Sandpiper 



A. O. U. No. 239. Pisobia macula ta (Vieillot). 



Synonyms. — Grass Snipe. Krieker. Jack Snipe. 



Description. — Adult: Above, ground-color blackish, everywhere heavily mar- 

 gined, and thus finely streaked, with ochraceous-buff, ochraceous, or rusty, and with 

 some grayish or whitish edging on the larger feathers; darker on crown, where streaked 

 with rusty only; wing-quills dusky, the first primary only with shaft white above; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts black, delicately tipped with rusty; tail sharply pointed, 

 the central feathers longest, — blackish centrally, brownish gray laterally, with ochra- 

 ceous or white edging; below, sides of head and neck, fore-neck and breast finely, 

 sharply, and heavily streaked with dusky on a dull white or buffy ground; throat and 

 remaining underparts white. Bill and feet greenish dusky. Coloring in winter perhaps 

 more blended. There seems to be no constant difference between summer and winter 

 plumages, — conflicting authorities to the contrary. Immature: A little brighter- 

 colored above, with sharper markings and more rusty, and with considerable white 

 edging on larger feathers of back; the breast more deeply buffy, and the streaks, if 

 possible, more numerous. Length of adult males 203.2-241.3 (8.00-9.50); wing 137.2 

 (5.40); tail 67.8 (2.67); bill 29.7 (1.17); tarsus 27.8 (1.10). Females are much smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Towhee size, but appearing larger; fine streaking of fore- 

 neck and breast on heavy ground, contrasting with pure white of throat and belly, 



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