SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.: WESTERN SANDPIPER 279 
with tawny , and faintly tipped with whitish or pale drab; rump dark brown, upper tail 
coverts brown and white; tail brown and drab; wing with white bar shown in flight, 
axillars and wing linings white; underparts white, streaked, except on belly but 
without huffy ground color; most heavily streaked with V-shaped spots on chest and 
sides; iris brown, bill, legs and feet black. Adults and immature in fall, winter , and 
early spring: Upperparts ashy brown or brownish gray, with blackish shaft streaks 
and in fresh plumage white feather tippings, giving scaled effect; chin white, upper 
breast narrowly streaked; rest of underparts white. Young in juvenal plumage: 
Like summer adults but upperparts duller, feathers of back with broad tawny 
margins, wing coverts tipped with buffy, and breast washed with buffy, mainly 
unstreaked. 
Comparisons. —Next to the Least Sandpiper in size, at a distance the Western 
can be told from it with difficulty by its longer bill, but in the hand the webbing 
between the bases of the front toes readily distinguishes it. In spring and in most 
autumn birds the back is strongly ruddy, more so than in the Least, and with a well 
defined'ruddy bar across nape, while the breast spots are heavy and sharp. (See 
p. 275.) 
Range. —North America, Central America, the West Indies, and northern 
South America. Breeds, so far as known, only in Alaska (has been taken in summer 
in northeastern Siberia); winters on the Pacific, Gulf, and South Atlantic coasts of 
the United States, the West Indies, Central America, and South America, in Vene¬ 
zuela, Ecuador, and Peru. 
State Records. —The principal migration route of the Western Sandpiper is 
west of the Rocky Mountains, but each fall a small percentage of the species wanders 
east of the mountains and spreads over much of the Eastern United States. A few 
individuals have been recorded in New Mexico: West of the Guadalupe Mountains, 
September 2, 1902 (Hollister); the Rio Grande and Mimbres rivers (Henry); Mesilla, 
September 1, 1913 (Merrill); Albuquerque, October 5, 1900 (Birtwell). 
The species has not yet been taken in New Mexico in spring and is undoubtedly 
rare on the return migration, but since it was taken May 11, 1892, at Mosquito 
Springs, Chihuahua (Mearns), close to the New Mexico line, it is evident that a few 
migrate north by this route.—W. W. Cooke. 
General Habits. —The Western Sandpiper, next to the smallest 
of the shore-birds, readily distinguished by size from the great majority 
of our waders, is seen almost entirely in flocks, which scatter out to 
feed but gather when frightened and rise in close flocks. As these 
flocks are described by Mr. Alfred Bailey, they can “usually be seen 
swirling white against the light, and again seeming to disappear” 
(1927, p. 194). About the middle of May, Doctor Nelson tells us, these 
birds reach the shores of Bering Sea, when they become very common, 
and, by the end of the month, forsake “the borders of icy pools and in 
twos and threes are found scattered over the tundra, showing a prefer¬ 
ence for small dry knolls and the drier tussock-covered parts of the 
country in the vicinity of damp spots and small ponds. Here the 
gentle birds may be seen at all times tripping daintily over the moss 
or in and out among the tufts of grass, conversing with each other in 
low, pleasant, twittering notes” (1887, p. 113). 
During courtship the males sail around on set wings, whistling as 
they go. When nesting the parents are very solicitous, decoying 
