The Least Sandpiper 
perfect as though conducted under the shimmering canopy of an Arctic 
sky. 
Least Sandpipers may be found almost anywhere in winter in the 
warmer parts of California, in the vicinity of lakes and ponds and lowland 
plashes, about brackish lagoons, more rarely upon sloping shores. Their 
numbers, however, are never so great as during migrations, since the bulk 
of this species winters still further south. They mingle freely with birds 
of either species, especially with Western Sandpipers (Ereunetes mauri). 
Sometimes they occur in flocks numbering thousands, but these occur¬ 
rences are notably rarer than of yore. 
According to those who have made a close study of this species, as 
in the Canadian and sub-Arctic regions, it is not easily possible to exag¬ 
gerate the confiding nature nor the winsome grace of the Least Sandpiper 
at home. The female who, for a season at least, has sole care of the nest, 
will patter about the very feet of the intruder, or else return to the nest 
at any cost, even under the threat of an overarching hand. On such 
occasions, also, she indulges in a song, remarkable not alone for its pathos, 
but for its variety and musical quality as well. This song is heard at 
its best in mid-air, and the ecstasy of the song-passion sometimes takes 
the performer out of sight. But what is this? She has pleaded, she has 
confided, she has even offered her body with its little spoonful of meat 
as a ransom for her little ones. Is it not enough? Then she will sing 
you a song, full-hearted, exultant, sacrificial; she will win you from the 
flesh with its paltry lusts, and summon to a like high-minded sacrifice— 
to faith, in fine. O joy of trust! O victory of sacrifice! O anthem fitly 
echoed in the human heart! 
Taken near Santa Barbara 
1242 
A REPEATER 
it’s only once a year that a poor photographer body gets such a willing model 
Photo by the Author 
