122 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March, 1919 
NOTES ON LONG ISLAND SHORE BIRDS 
SOME AUTHENTIC INFORMATION ON THE HABITS 
OF THESE RESTLESS DENIZENS OF MARSH AND MIRE 
BY J. T. NICHOLS 
The Krieker or Grass Snipe 
T he Krieker is a medium sized or 
small shore bird, formerly more 
abundant than at present, though 
still found on our meadows in spring 
and fall in moderate numbers. It may 
be recognized by its dark, heavily 
streaked breast, contrasted with its white 
belly. It alights on mud flats or among 
the marsh grass and the members of a 
flock scatter and move about rather slug- 
gishly on the ground. Its notes are 
husky, only one of them approaching a 
whistle, kerr. A kerr note resembles the 
common flight call of the Semipalmated 
Oxeye, but is harsher, and a short chep, 
chep is sometimes heard when the birds 
are in flocks of their own kind. The 
Krieker does not respond well to de- 
coys. Individuals are frequently found 
in large flocks of the smaller Oxeyes, or 
associated with larger birds. 
The book name for this species is Pec- 
toral Sandpiper, an allusion to the habit 
of the male during its breeding season 
in the far north, of inflating its throat 
and breast like a pouter pigeon. In most 
shore birds, the females are materially 
larger than the males, but in this one the 
reverse is true, the males being larger. 
HE Natural History Depart- 
ment has been for nearly half 
a century a clearing-house for in- 
formation of interest to all. Our 
readers are invited to send any 
questions that come under the head 
of this department to Robert Cush- 
man Murphy, in care of Forest 
AND Stream. Mr. Murphy, who is 
Curator of the Department of Na- 
tural Science in the Brooklyn 
Museum, will answer through these 
columns . — [Editors.] 
Stilt Sandpiper or Green-Leg 
H OW well I remember an August 
morning several years a^o, when 
two of us started early enough be- 
fore dawn to cross the bay and have 
our snipe decoys set by sunrise along 
the marshes behind the beach doons. Or- 
dinarily this meant a prolonged wait for 
passing shore-birds in our blind of 
bushes, but on this day, even before the 
last decoy was placed, the flocks began 
to come in. In size, flight, and notes, 
the birds resembled so closely the Lesser 
Yellowleg, ordinarily the commonest 
large shore-bird along these marshes, 
that it was not until the first of them 
were in our hands that we realized we 
were dealing with another species, the 
Stilt Sandpiper. They came so rapidly 
that my companion’s bag-limit would 
have been shortly reached had he not 
ceased shooting them to signal out the 
few larger birds which were traveling in 
their company. 
This species is ordinarily uncommon, 
a few individuals only being found each 
year, often in flocks of the Lesser Yellow- 
leg, but occasionally, for no known rea- 
son, it occurs in large numbers. It has 
a Somewhat longer bill, shorter legs and 
darker colors than the Yellowleg, is a 
little smaller, and its legs are olive green 
instead of bright yellow. Its note re- 
sembles very closely the “whew” or 
“whew whew” of the other species, but 
is hoarser. 
Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs 
T he two Yellowlegs are our common- 
est large shore-birds, tall, slender 
species, whose long yellow legs and 
white tails, flashing conspicuously when- 
ever they alight or take wing, will serve 
to differentiate them from the others. 
(continued on page 134) 
From mounted specimens. Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History. 
Lesser Yellowleg, Greater Yellowleg, Krieker or Pectoral Sandpiper, and Stilt Sandpiper 
