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 Tringce 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 
