208 
PRJ3COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLAI. 
heavy rains and the overflowing of the pools compel the birds to seek the borders 
of the sea, where at other times it is not usual to find them. This species is given by 
Dr. Gundlach as occurring in Cuba, but only as a visitant. 
In Massachusetts this species appears, on its way north, about the last of May, 
and makes but a very short stay, returning in August, later than the Actodromas 
‘minutilla, all having left by the middle of September. They are in greatly reduced 
numbers as compared with former years, when all the beaches and mud-flats appeared 
alive with the numerous flocks of “ Peeps,” as they are called — a name also given 
to the A. minutilla and A. Bonapartii. 
Mr. Dresser met with none of this species near San Antonio, but found it not 
uncommon near Matamoras, though not so common as the minutilla. Audubon, how- 
ever, mentions it as found in Texas in great numbers in April, and as moving north- 
ward with celerity, both along the sea-sliore and the larger streams. 
Audubon states that he found it dispersed in pairs throughout Labrador, and 
having nests there in June, though he was not able to find any, the birds squatting 
on the moss as if they had a nest, and thus effectually misleading his party. lie 
also states that lie often saw this species in considerable numbers along the shores of 
the Ohio and the Mississippi during autumn. At this season they fed on fresh-water 
insects, worms, and small coleoptera, became very fat, and afforded excellent eating ; 
this, he adds, is rarely the case when they are found along the sea-shore. Their 
flight is swift and well sustained ; and when alarmed, or just before alighting, their 
evolutions are very graceful. 
Mr. Boardman informs us that this species is very abundant in the vicinity of 
Calais, but does not breed there. It usually arrives early in August, or, in some 
years, about the last of July. In its season it occurs in nearly every part of North 
America, congregating in large flocks on the beaches, sand-bars, and low lands along 
the sea-coast, as well as on the shores of the interior lakes and streams. When feed- 
ing, these birds scatter about in small parties ; and when surprised, collect together, 
with a rapid and peculiar movement, in such close bodies that sometimes twenty 
or thirty may be killed at a single shot. When pursued, they move off in a mass, 
uttering a peculiar chirping note as they go, by imitating which they may be readily 
decoyed. On dissection, their stomachs are found filled with minute fragments of 
animal and vegetable origin. 
Individuals and small parties of this species are occasionally met with early in 
the summer in parts of the country where they are not known to breed. Mr. Allen 
found a number at Ipswich in June, 1868. They were all in immature plumage, 
being evidently mere stragglers, and not breeding. Mr. Hensliaw mentions seeing 
a small flock on the sea-shore near Santa Barbara in July. These were all found 
to be barren birds. 
According to the observations of Mr. Moore, this species may be found during 
the entire summer in Florida, in small groups of not more than fifteen or twenty. 
They all retain their winter colors, or at best exhibit but slight touches of brown or 
rufous. It is not easy to account for this continuance of a winter garb throughout 
the summer in such birds as would assume a different dress were they to resort to 
their northern habitat to breed. It may be caused by old age, by barrenness, or 
by disease. It can hardly be because they are unmated, as birds in that condition 
assume the spring plumage before they migrate. It would be interesting to ascer- 
tain if it is inability to propagate which thus arrests the development of the vernal 
plumage. There were no indications that any of these resident individuals ever 
breed in Florida. 
