Lake Umbagog, Maine.
Outlet Marshes
1894
Oct 1
(No 2)
rose from mud flats where there was absolutely no cover.
They flew with unusual swiftness, a characteristic, as I
have often observed, of freshly arrived birds. They also
"bunched" and went off in small, compact flocks like
Tringas. I do not doubt that there were fully fifty
and perhaps twice as many Snipes on these meadows
to-day.
  There was also a flock of seventeen Pectorals of which
I killed four. These Sandpipers are singularly like Snipe
in many of their ways. They probe in precisely the same
manner and when approached remain perfectly motionless
for many minutes at a time evidently relying on their
admirable protective coloring for concealment but unlike
the Snipe they do not squat. Nevertheless it is extremely
difficult to see them even when a dozen or more
are standing in plain view. There is nearly always a
background of grass and the mud on these marshes
is also covered with a short, exceedingly dense growth
of fine grass which, at a distance, looks like vividly
green moss. The Pectorals resort much to these mossy
flats even when, as is nearly always the case, they
are somewhat elevated and perfectly dry. The birds do
not feed there but simply bask or sleep in the sun, [delete]and
sleep[/delete].
[margin]Tringa
maculata[/margin]
  Pectorals are invariably very tame here but they are
easily alarmed by loud sounds and the report of a
gun will often start a flock in great alarm half-a-
mile or more away. When thus started the birds fly
about for many minutes before realighting coursing
back & forth on the marshes, now high, now low,
wheeling & turning sharply.