The Pectoral Sandpiper 



At the last-named station a flock of six Pectorals, feeding in the 

 flooded salicornia beds, afforded a very pleasing sight. There would have 

 been handsome photographic records, too, if it had not been for the wicked 

 lies the Killdeers told. As it was, I played tag with these Tringcz for the 

 best part of two hours and found them far wilder at the end of the "sitting" 

 than at the beginning. The Pectorals often consorted with the Leasts 

 (Pisobia minutilla), and under the spur of the Killdeer bulletins (pub- 

 lished every five minutes by a feathered Ananias whose neck I should like 

 to have wrung), these usually trusting little fowls were soon wrought up to 

 a state of nervous tension exceeding the Killdeer's own. 



Left to themselves, the Pectorals moved about with quiet grace and 

 assurance, and without that waste motion which is so characteristic of the 

 Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria cinnamomea) or the Yellow-legs 

 (Neoglottis flavipes), to both of which, in character, they bear a superficial 

 resemblance. The name "Grass Snipe" seemed fitting, for they often 

 alighted in the center of a thick cluster of grass-stems or of salicornia in 

 preference to open water, and they sometimes took refuge in such cover 

 when gently pressed, instead of taking to wing. The birds were always 

 silent, and if the camerist was anywhere in the vicinity, feeding was either 

 suspended outright or carried on furtively. Sometimes a bird would 

 stand motionless, peering over a grass patch, for ten minutes at a stretch. 



Much better opportunities of studying these birds are afforded in 

 the Mississippi Valley, during migrations. When startled, a flock of, 

 say, fifty of these Sandpipers moves off as one bird, wheeling and turning 

 at precisely the same moment, and presenting in the early morning a 



Taken in Monterey County 

 Photo by the Author 



GRASS SNIPE AT ELKHORN 



1233 



