84 



THE CONDOR 



Vol. XIX 



ings on the dark feathers were very much in accord with the general black and 

 white color scheme of the gravel bar upon which the bird had squatted, endeavor- 

 ing to escape notice by remaining motionless. The change from natal down to the 

 immature plumage is well illustrated in this individual. 



The young sandpipers were found feeding in the shallower pools, where the 

 water was less than one inch deep. At times as manj^ as five were noted in an 

 area one yard square. They congregated along the water's edge, picking up, as 

 the tide slowly receded, many bits of food. The nature of this provender I could 

 not make out although the young birds would often come within twenty feet of 

 me when I remained motionless for a few minutes. The old birds were much 

 more shy, often taking flight or retreating to distant gravel bars upon my ap- 

 proach. Considerable time was spent by both young and old in making short 

 flights about the harbor. These flights alternated with periods of food getting, 

 and were seemingly in preparation for the fall migration. It was only a few days 

 then until the bulk of the species left on their southward journey. 



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Fig. 31. Immature Baird Sandpiper hiding on gravel bar. 

 July 30, 1914. 



Herschel Island, Yukon, 



Murdock reports the last bird seen at Point Barrow on August 12. In 1913 

 we noted the last of the species on August 11, near Barter Island, Arctic Alaska ; 

 in 1914 I saw none after August 15. There is no apparent reason for the sand- 

 pipers leaving their summer home as early as they do, as the weather is very 

 much more genial at this time than it is during the breeding season, and the food 

 supply is certainly as abundant. 



The main body of Baird Sandpipers return south by the spring migration 

 route, between the Mississippi and the Rockies, but there is a tendency to spread 

 out along both the Atlantic and Pacific sea coasts. Swartli (Univ. Calif. Publ. 

 Zool., vii, 1910, p. 51) noted the first fall migrant at Thomas Bay, in southeastern 

 Alaska on August 15, 1909, and the birds were common a week later. The spe- 

 cies has been considered rare on the Atlantic coast in fall, but recent observations 

 have produced numerous records until it seems now that the bird must be more 

 common there than it was believed to be. The birds reach their winter home in 

 southern South America in September. 



Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, March 14, 1917. 



