272 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
Range. —Breeds mainly on the Arctic coasts of Alaska and Mackenzie, but also 
in northeastern Siberia and on Hudson Bay; winters from Peru and Bolivia to Argen¬ 
tina and Chile. 
State Records. —During fall migration the Pectoral Sandpiper is common 
throughout most of the Mississippi Valley west to the eastern foothills of the Rocky 
Mountains on its way from the Arctic coast to South America. It was found com¬ 
mon September 13, 1886, at Apache, New Mexico (Anthony), and undoubtedly 
occurs regularly in the fall migration, though there is only the one definite 
record.—W. W. Cooke. 
General Habits. —The “stocky, short-necked, short-legged” Pec¬ 
toral Sandpiper or Grass Snipe, slightly smaller than a Killdeer, like 
the Wilson Snipe has a marked grass pattern, is found in swamps and in 
meadows and flats with scattered cover, rather than on open beaches, 
and like the Wilson crouches in the grass and rises singly with zigzag 
flight when approached. The heavy streakings of its breast ending 
abiuptly in a horizonal line on its white belly, which give it the name 
of Pectoral Sandpiper, are said to make a striking field character, but 
when the bird stands erect, cut its figure into two sections, with pro¬ 
tective effect. 
One of the Pectoral’s ordinary notes is a squeaky grating whistle 
from which it gets the name of Krieker, but in the breeding season, as 
Doctor Nelson discovered when at the mouth of the Yukon, it inflates its 
throat and breast to twice or more their natural size and by means of 
this great air-sac utters a deep hollow and resonant note suggestive of 
the booming of the Prairie Chicken (1887, p. 108). One that Mr. 
H. B. Conover saw fly by with pouch distended, jerked his head up 
and down as he gave his call, as if “swallowing air to inflate his throat” 
(1926, p. 307). Mr. O. J. Murie, who accompanied Mr. Conover 
“caught some newly hatched young, and holding his hand containing 
them extended on the ground, induced the old bird to come up and 
brood the chicks. She was so tame that he caught and banded her 
without difficulty” (Conover, 1926, p. 307). 
“In common with many other shore-birds,” Professor Cooke said, “the 
Pectoral Sandpiper begins its fall migrations in July” or even in June 
the first reaching Argentina by the end of August (1910, pp. 36-37)! 
By February 8, Doctor Wetmore says, a few have been seen “evidently 
bound north on the return migration,” but small numbers remain in 
Argentina until late in April or even May. The supposition that they 
breed in the south is without basis in fact. Though hunted to some 
extent, they go about m such small bands and are distributed over so 
(1927 ^ ^9) they d ° n0t suffer extensiv ely at the hands of gunners 
Additional Literature. — Brewster, 
Harvard College, LXVI, 242-244, 1925. 
William, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 
