The Least Sandpiper 
are not to be shot except by glass-eyed guns. But now, good-bye, little 
piper. It’s a shame to leave you; but you know, really, I can’t put you 
into my pocket.” 
Baird’s Sandpiper has, until recently, been regarded as an exceedingly 
rare migrant in California. Mr. Joseph Mailliard recorded the taking 
of a specimen at Mt. Pinos on August 25, 1897, as the second capture for 
the State. The birds are of regular occurrence at Santa Barbara in 
August, and have been seen in spring (e. g., May 2, 1913), so that it seems 
altogether probable that their earlier occurrence has simply been over¬ 
looked. On the other hand, it is known that the bird has a wide migra¬ 
tion range in the interior, where it is fond of touching at glacial lakes and 
cirques at the highest elevations. It is essentially a boreal bird, for it 
breeds along the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Point Barrow eastward, 
and winters among the Andean lakes of Chile. 
No. 240 
Least Sandpiper 
A. O. U. No. 242. Pisobia minutilla (Vieillot). 
Synonyms.— American Stint. Peep. 
Description. — Adult in summer: Upperparts brownish black, relieved by 
fuscous on wings, hind-neck, etc., the feathers more or less bordered with grayish and 
rusty ochraceous, especially on scapulars, where deeply indented, often nearly to 
shaft; upper tail-coverts and central feathers of tail brownish black; remaining tail- 
feathers ashy gray; sides of head, neck, and breast pale brownish or buffy, spotted and 
streaked with dusky; a few dusky streaks on sides; remaining underparts white. Bill 
blackish; feet and legs yellowish green. Winter plumage: Above plain brownish 
gray, black, if at all, only in mesial streaks; spotting of breast nearly obsolete, but 
breast heavily washed with grayish brown. Immature: Similar to adult in summer, 
but without ochraceous indentations on scapular feathers; feathers of back with 
rounded rusty tips; scapulars with white tips on outer web, etc.; breast less distinctly 
streaked. Length 152.4 (6.00); wing 91.4 (3.60); tail 43.2 (1.70); bill 17.6 (.69); tarsus 
18.5 (-73)- 
Recognition Marks. —Warbler to sparrow size; least among Sandpipers; most 
liable to be confused with Ereunetes pusillus and E. niauri , from which it differs in its 
slightly smaller size, slenderer and shorter bill, more extensively washed breast, rather 
darker coloration above; and lighter, more greenish feet and legs. The absence of 
webs on the feet is, of course, distinctive. 
Nesting. —Does not breed in California. Nest: A grass-lined depression on 
ground or hollow in moss. Eggs: 3 or 4; pale olive-buff or pale greenish buff, spotted 
and marked lightly or heavily, often finely, with reddish brown (bister to burnt umber) 
with duller shadows. Av. size 27.9 x 20.3 (1.10 x .80). Season: June; one brood, 
General Range. —North and South America. Breeds from the Magdalen 
Islands, Nova Scotia, southern Ungava, central Keewatin, and the Yakutat Bay dis- 
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