SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.: LEAST SANDPIPER 275 
On their spring migration in 1914 they reached their breeding 
grounds in the frozen tundra of the Arctic coast the latter part of 
May, Mr. Dixon found, when the two months of continuous daylight 
had begun. The males and females arrived together, and their court¬ 
ship, which was witnessed by Mr. Brooks, while without vocal demon¬ 
stration, was notable for its striking flight and wing movements. As 
Mr. Brooks describes it, “the male would fly a few feet above the 
female, while she rested on the ground, with quick erratic wing strokes 
suggesting a nighthawk. Frequently he would alight and raise the 
wings high over the back as a gull does before folding them. Then 
with the forearms perpendicular, the primaries would be slowly raised 
and lowered like a pump handle, generally lowered to right angles with 
the forearms, sometimes lower” (Brooks in Dixon, 1917, pp. 79-80). 
Additional Literature.—Brewster, William, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 
Harvard College, LXVI, 246-249, 1925. 
LEAST SANDPIPER: Pis6bia minutiUa (Vieillot) 
Description. — Length: 5-6.7 inches, wing 3.5-3.7, bill .7-.9, tarsus .7. Bill 
slender; toes slender, clejt to bases. Adults in breeding plumage: Upperparts blackish 
marked with rusty, buff, and whitish; rump black, middle tail feathers black, outer 
ones drab; wing with narrow white bar; axillars and wing linings white; chest band 
pale brownish or huffy grayish, narrowly streaked with brown; belly and flanks white; 
iris brown, bill black, legs and feel greenish. Adults and young in winter plumage: 
Similar but without tawny and buff; upperparts ashy brown with darker feather 
centers; broad chest band less distinctly spotted or streaked. Young in juvenal plumage: 
Similar to summer adults but markings more blended and indistinct, back and shoul¬ 
ders with white feather margins, wing coverts margined with buffy, chest decidedly 
buffy, band indistinctly streaked. 
Comparisons. —The Least Sandpiper, of sparrow size, is almost a miniature of the 
Pectoral, even to the color of its legs (Townsend in Bent, 1927, 208). (See p. 271.) 
Range —North and South America; casual in Europe and Asia. Breeds from 
northwestern Alaska (Kotzebue Sound), southern Arctic coast and islands, in 
Mackenzie, Kcewatin, northern Quebec, Labrador, and Newfoundland south to 
Nova Scotia, Hudson Bay region, southern Mackenzie, and southern Alaska; winters 
from central California, rarely Arizona, southern Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia 
south through North and Middle America to Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and 
Galapagos Archipelago. 
State Records. —The Least Sandpiper is an abundant migrant in New Mexico 
while passing from its summer home in northern Canada to its winter home in Central 
and South America. Like many others of its kind, it begins its southward journey 
in the early summer, and by July 26, 1901, had already reached Carlsbad (Bailey), 
2,000 miles from the nearest part of its breeding range. Migration continues through 
August and September. Specimens were taken near Koehler Junction, August 20, 
1913 (Kalmbach); it was noted at Beaver Lake, August 26-27, 1908 (Birdseye), 
Las Vegas September 1, 1903 (Bailey); west of the Guadalupe Mountains, Septembei 
2, 1902 (Hollister); Carlsbad, September 5, 1901 (Bailey); Apache, September 13, 
1886 (Anthony); and as late as September 30, 1904, at Lake Burford (Gaut). 
[On the Carlsbad Bird Reserve, it was seen December, 1916 (Willett).! 
