been many times taken in Western States. Among these occurrences are:
New Mexico (Guadalupito, August 7, 1903); Wyoming (Arvada, August 19,
1913); Montana (Milk River, July 25, 1874, Miles City, August 14, 1900,
Gold Creek, August 20, 1910, and Three Buttes, August 6, 1874). Many
specimens also have been taken in British Columbia (Atlin and Okanagan
Landing), where it appears to be of regular occurrence, a specimen was
taken at Griffin Point, Alaska, June 1, 1914, and one at Fort Chimo,
Ungava.
Two were collected on October 12, 1897, on Chatham Island, Galapagos
Archipelago; one was taken on the Clyde River, Lanarkshire, Scotland;
and another was obtained at Kangek, Greenland, on August 1, 1878.
_Egg dates._--Alberta: 29 records, May 24 to June 24; 15 records, May
30 to June 8.
TRINGA SOLITARIA CINNAMOMEA (Brewster)
WESTERN SOLITARY SANDPIPER
HABITS
The western race of this species is larger than the eastern. In adult
nuptial plumage the upper parts are much less distinctly spotted with
whitish, the white bars on the tail are decidedly narrower and the
outer primary is usually finely mottled, with ashy white along the
border of its inner web; this last is none too constant a character and
is sometimes seen in the eastern bird. The name was derived from the
fact that in young birds the light spots on the back, scapulars and
wing coverts are brownish cinnamon instead of white or buffy whitish.
_Courtship._--The following description of the song flight of this
species was originally recorded by Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) under
the name of the undivided species, but he now evidently thinks that it
should belong here:
The song flight of this species is mostly indulged in
during the early morning hours. This consists of a slow
circuitous flight on rapidly beating wings high over the
tree tops, accompanied by the frequent repetition of a
weak song somewhat resembling the call of a sparrow hawk.
At the close of this song flight the bird alights, as if
exhausted, and perches silently for some time at the top of
the tallest spruce in the vicinity. During the performance
of the male, the female may be seen feeding around
some grassy pool beneath, from all appearances entirely
unmindful of the ecstatic efforts of her mate.
_Nesting._--Nothing definite is known of the breeding range or
nesting habits of the western solitary sandpiper. It is supposed to
breed in the interior of British Columbia and Alaska. The following
observations, made near Circle, Alaska, by Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (1909)
throw some light on the subject:
Within a radius of several miles from Circle one or more
adults were found about almost every woodland swamp.
In most cases they acted like parent birds anxious for
the safety of their young. Whenever we entered certain
precincts, they hovered nervously about, calling loudly,
or alighted on nearby trees scolding. The first pair seen
near Charlie Creek exhibited such actions on the evening
of June 22, and we made a hasty search in the twilight for
young birds, but found nothing. The excitement of the old
birds seemed to be greatest while we were in a small grassy
swamp, so the next day we made a more careful search.
The old birds were even more excited than before, and it
was some time before we detected that, besides the loud
cries ringing all about us, a faint peeping was issuing
from several points in the grass. Guided by this scarcely
audible peeping, we soon found three downy young birds
widely separated and squatting aimlessly in the grass.
They are quite small, exactly of a size, and none shows
the least indication of growing feathers; evidently they
belonged to one clutch, and could not have been out of the
eggs more than one or two days. The eggs of this species,
like those of the European green sandpiper, have been found
in the nests of other birds in trees. The small opening
where the birds were found was bounded on one side by an
extensive area grown with willows of relatively small size,
but on the other side was only a thin line of willows and
then alders, birch, poplars, and heavy spruce, in which
probably such birds as olive-backed thrushes, robins, and
varied thrushes nested in abundance. Therefore there was
ample opportunity for the sandpipers to lay their eggs in
the nests of these birds.
_Plumages._--The downy young referred to above are thus described by
Robert Ridgway, (1919):
General color of upper parts cinnamon drab, longitudinally
varied with brownish black; forehead and crown with a
broad median streak of black; a sharply defined black
loral streak, extending from bill to eye; a narrow black
stripe across auricular region (longitudinally), or a
black postauricular spot; occiput brown centrally, black
exteriorly, the black border sending from each side
a forward branch; an oval patch of brownish black on
median portion of rump, this bordered along each side
by a stripe of pale dull vinaceous-buff, the two buffy
stripes converging or almost uniting both anteriorly and
posteriorly; wings cinnamon drab, margined posteriorly with
dull white, the brown portion with several irregular spots
or blotches of black; under parts dull white.
Subsequent plumages and molts are doubtless similar to those of the
eastern race.
_Winter._--As mentioned under the preceding subspecies, we know very
little about the winter distribution of the two races. Dr. Frank M.
Chapman (1926) says that most of his specimens from Ecuador are of this
form, which he calls “a common winter resident from the coast to the
tableland, arriving from the north at least as early as August 10.” Dr.
Alexander Wetmore (1926) says:
The specimens taken at Formosa and General Roca belong
certainly to the western form, on the basis of size (male,
wing, 134.3; female, wing 136.7 mm.), dorsal coloration,
and the presence of mottling on the inner web of the outer
primary. A female from Lazcano, Uruguay, has molted the
outer primaries, but on the basis of other measurements and
on the presence of some dark, buff mottling on the back
seems within the limit of variation of _cinnamomea_ and is
identified as the same as the other two. Though the typical
subspecies _solitaria_ is recorded definitely from Colombia
by Chapman, these findings seem to cast a doubt on its
presence as far south as Argentina.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Western North America and South America.
_Breeding range._--No unquestioned set of eggs of the western solitary
sandpiper has thus far been recorded. Downy young with their parents
have, however, been taken in western Alberta (Henry House) and in
Alaska (Circle, Kowak River, Eagle, and Charlie Creek). There also is
a strong probability of their breeding in British Columbia (Cariboo
District, and Ducks).
_Winter range._--As mentioned under _T. s. solitaria_, the two races
of this species on their wintering grounds in South America have
been distinguished only on a few occasions. It is probable that they
either occupy the same winter grounds or that their ranges overlap.
All specimens collected by Wetmore (1926) from Uruguay, Paraguay, and
Argentina, prove to be this form, indicating that it may winter south
of true _solitaria_. It also has been taken by Chapman in Ecuador
(Guayaquil, Loja, and Cebollal).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Texas, Samuels,
April 15, and Henrietta, April 19; New Mexico, State College, May 4,
and Las Vegas, May 8; Colorado, Colorado Springs, May 1, Denver, May
4, and Boulder, May 5; Montana, Terry, May 7, and Billings, May 10;
Alberta, Athabaska Landing, May 5, Edmonton, May 10, and Sandy Creek,
May 14; Mackenzie, Fort Simpson, May 10, and Fort Providence, May 14;
Arizona, Verde Valley, April 20, and Paradise, May 9; California, Los
Angeles, April 10, Gridley, April 23, and Fort Crook, May 4; Oregon,
Anthony, April 16, and Malheur Lake, April 17; Washington, Tacoma, May
6; British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, May 5, and Chilliwack, May 7;
Yukon, Forty-mile, May 8; and Alaska, Tocatna Forks, May 12, Nulato,
May 15, and Kowak River, May 18.
Late dates of spring departure are: Colorado, Boulder, May 25, Denver,
May 28, and Grand Junction, June 3; and Wyoming, Fort Saders, May 25.
_Fall migration._--Early dates of fall arrival are: California, Santa
Barbara, July 22; Arizona, Apache, July 29, Cave Spring, August 1,
and White Mountains, August 10; Montana, Terry, June 28; Wyoming, New
Castle, July 7; Colorado, Lytle, July 6, Middle Park, July 13, and El
Paso County, July 23; New Mexico, Zuni Mountains, July 24; and Texas,
Brownsville, July 31.
Late dates of fall departure are: Alaska, Taku River, September 15;
British Columbia, Okanagan Landing, September 26; Washington, Seattle,
September 11; California, Santa Barbara, September 7; Arizona, San
Pedro River, October 10; Lower California, Agua Escondido, November
18; Montana, Missoula, September 4, Terry, September 5, and Bitterroot
Valley, September 7; Wyoming, Yellowstone Park, September 4, and Green
River, September 5; Colorado, Boulder, September 18, Florissant,
October 5, and Greeley, October 25; and New Mexico, Acoma, September
27, and Glenrio, October 2.
TRINGA OCROPHUS Linnaeus
GREEN SANDPIPER
_Contributed, by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain_
HABITS
The green sandpiper is only an accidental visitor to North America.
Swainson and Richardson (1831) record it from Hudson Bay, but this is
now generally acknowledged to be probably due to error. However, Dr. T.
M. Brewer (1878) mentions a specimen obtained at Halifax, Nova Scotia,
in 1872 or 1873 and forming part of a collection made there which was
purchased by J. E. Harting from a dealer at Woolwich. The evidence is
far from satisfactory and Seebohm’s remarks (1884) should be consulted,
but the skins in question are still in existence in the collection of
the British Museum.
_Courtship._--It is a most remarkable fact that though the green
sandpiper is widely distributed during the breeding season over
temperate Europe and is by no means a shy or retiring bird, even though
it haunts the recesses of wooded marshes and wet forests, yet there
is hardly anything on record about its courtship activities. Seebohm
writes that the notes “are no doubt modulated into a musical trill as
the male performs his amatory excursions in the air during the pairing
season,” but adds that he has never had the good fortune either to
hear the love song or to find it described. Fortunately Prof. C. J.
Patten (1906) met with a pair which frequented a moorland stream in the
neighborhood of Sheffield from May 3 to June 4, 1903. He says:
They were always to be found in the same spot, and after
feeding they frequently flitted on to a stone wall,
where for a little while they would remain motionless.
At intervals they suddenly shot up into the air for a
short distance, darting down again to the same stone
with astonishing speed. On the wing they displayed great
activity and adroitness, the female twisting and turning to
escape the addresses of the male.
Newton (1896) writes:
Yet in the breeding season, even in England, the cock bird
has been seen to rise high in air and perform a variety of
evolutions on the wing, all the while piping what without
any violence of language may be called a song.
Doctor Hartert (1920), speaking of its habits on its breeding grounds,
remarks that it may be seen shooting through the air with the speed
of an arrow, and opines that this must be the love flight. With the
exception of these notes and some references to the song (which are
referred to under the heading of Voice), I can find nothing in the
literature with regard to the actual courtship, except Hartert’s
statement that on the ground the male trips about, with tail outspread
like a fan, calling loudly. When, however, a pair has definitely
settled down in its breeding territory, both birds are exceedingly
noisy and demonstrative. Wheelwright (1864) speaks of the “boisterous,
noisy behavior” of this bird, and in his later work on Sweden (1865)
remarks:
Now, of all our waders, this is the noisiest, and there is
little trouble in finding the locality where it breeds,
for the old male is always about some brook in the
neighborhood, and I have before noticed that the loud, wild
cry of the green sandpiper and greenshank are much alike.
_Nesting._--The nesting habits of the green sandpiper have been fully
described, but were practically unknown to naturalists till about
1852–1860, when quite independently Forester, Weise, and Hintz (sen.),
in Germany, and H. W. Wheelwright in Sweden, published the results of
their discoveries. The story is told in detail by Forest-Inspector
Weise, in the _Journal für Ornithologie_ for 1855 (p. 514). He had
first heard of the habit of adopting old nests of other species in
trees from an old ranger, but naturally discredited it. However, in
1845, the same man brought him four sandpipers’ eggs from a nest in
an old beech. Next spring Weise found a green sandpiper breeding in a
pine about 25 or 30 feet from the ground. He climbed to the nest and
found the four eggs so highly incubated that the young could be heard
squeaking inside the shells. Two other nests in similar sites came to
his notice subsequently, the last on May 25, 1855, when the four eggs
were already chipped.
Forester, W. Hintz 1, writing in the same periodical for 1862 (p. 460)
says that he had found sandpipers’ nests in trees as far back as 1818,
but at that time he had no correspondents who took any interest in
birds’ eggs and only took a clutch or two for his own collection. On
April 26, 1834, he found a clutch of this species in a nest of the song
thrush (_Turdus philomelus_) and from 1852 onward, as the circumstances
began to be known to German naturalists, he found a long series of
nests with eggs of which he gives full details. Most of these eggs
were laid in old nests of song thrush (_Turdus philomelus_), but some
were placed in old nests of pigeon (probably _Columba palumbus_) or
squirrel’s dreys, and in one case the young were found in an old nest
of red-backed shrike (_Lanius collurio_). Another curious case recorded
is that in which an old aspen (_Populus tremula_) was broken off and a
hole which had been occupied in the previous year by a pied flycatcher,
contained a brood of young green sandpipers, which had apparently only
been hatched half an hour before. On the forester’s approach the young
birds jumped from the hole and concealed themselves among the grass.
Some further details are also given in a letter from Hintz sent to the
Rev. H. S. Hawkins and published in Dresser’s Birds of Europe; also in
the _Journal für Ornithologie_ for 1864 (p. 186).
Summarizing these we find that the birds arrive on their nesting
grounds in Germany from the beginning to the middle of April, choosing
wooded localities in marshy districts with pools or slow-flowing
streams in the neighborhood. Old nests of song thrush, blackbird,
mistle thrush, red-backed shrike, and half-ruined nests of jay,
woodpigeon, or squirrel are all adopted from time to time. Occasionally
the eggs are laid in a hollow where dead leaves and pine needles have
accumulated, and holes formerly used by starlings and flycatchers
have been taken possession of. The height from the ground varies
considerably, some nests may be as much as 35 or 40 feet above the
ground while others are only a few feet up. The distance from the
nearest water is also variable, as though most nests are within 500
yards, yet occasionally the birds have been known to nest half a mile
away.
Meantime H. W. Wheelwright in Sweden had met with an exactly similar
state of things, and in the _Field_ newspaper of August 18, 1860,
described the tree-nesting habits of this species. The editor, who
was ignorant of the evidence of Weise and Hintz, openly expressed his
doubts as to the accuracy of the observations, but Wheelwright stuck
manfully to his facts and subsequently the editor admitted his mistake.
The republication of Wheelwright’s notes in Sweden in 1866 elicited
further evidence from Jagmaster Lundborg, who had on one occasion
taken the eggs from what appeared to be an old squirrel’s drey or
nest. The only important difference in the habits of the bird in the
two countries appears to be that nests of the hooded crow (_Corvus c.
cornix_) are freely used in Sweden and also those of the fieldfare
(_Turdus pilaris_).
Like the greenshank, the green sandpiper has a great attachment to
certain localities and in some cases the identical nest has been used
for two consecutive seasons. In a district where the birds are not
scarce, this naturally renders the discovery of the nest much more
simple to the resident, and explains the success of Forester Hintz and
others in discovering the eggs. Very little in the way of addition
appears to be made by the sandpipers to their adopted home and the pine
needles which are noted in the interior of old thrushes’ nests may well
have dropped from the adjacent trees in the ordinary way.
_Eggs._--These are normally four in number, pyriform in shape, rather
thin shelled and, as compared with those of the wood sandpiper,
generally large and pale in coloring, showing more of the ground colors
and fewer markings. The ground color varies from some shade of pale
greenish or greenish grey to warm creamy, buffish stone color and
light yellowish red. The markings are generally rather fine and in the
reddish eggs are rich purplish brown, shading into very dark brown,
while in the greenish eggs they are generally less reddish and more
purplish in tone. Numerous fine speckles are characteristic and there
are generally also some underlying shell marks of violet or ashy. The
measurements of 100 eggs average 39.11 by 28.04 millimeters; the eggs
showing the four extremes measure =42= by 28, =41.1= by =30.3=, =34.6=
by 26, and 34.8 by =25.7= millimeters.
_Young._--As to the shares of the sexes in incubation, there are
references to females shot from the nest and males on guard in the
neighborhood, but how far this has been confirmed by dissection and
how much is surmise it is not easy to say. The incubation period is
also unknown. When the young are hatched their stay in the nest is very
short. Besides Hintz’s observation, quoted above, of recently hatched
young jumping from the nest into the grass on his approach. Wheelwright
also found on one occasion four very small young, apparently not a day
old, at the foot of a fir, while in the nest overhead were the empty
shells, still wet inside. In this case the early abandonment of the
nest was not due to human interference. On another occasion Hintz found
three young and a chipped egg in a squirrel’s drey about 30 feet up
in a birch. The young birds sprang from the nest and alighted on the
ground without injuring themselves, concealing themselves at once among
the grass.
_Plumages._--The molts and plumages are fully described in A Practical
Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920), to which
the reader is referred.
_Food._--The main food of this species consists of insects, especially
small coleoptera and their larvae, but larval forms of other water
insects such as the Phryganeidae are also taken and also larvae of
Diptera. Other substances recorded include wood lice, spiders, and not
infrequently the very small red worms, which are to be met with on the
edges of stagnant pools, but apparently not common earthworms. Traces
of vegetable matter are also recorded. H. Stevenson also includes small
fresh-water mollusca, and W. Farren, algae, tender shoots of plants and
on the seashore thin shelled Crustacea.
_Behavior._--The green sandpiper may be met with in the British Islands
in almost every month of the year except perhaps June, when it is
decidedly rare, though only a few individuals stay with us through
the winter. As some birds have undoubtedly stayed through the summer,
breeding has been suspected on several occasions, but the evidence
has always been unsatisfactory. It occurs most frequently in spring
and autumn, sometimes singly and sometimes (especially in autumn), in
family parties, haunting the margins of brooks and ponds.
They are much more deliberate in their movements than the common
sandpiper and search the mud very thoroughly, boring into it with the
bill, probably in search of the small red worms on which they feed.
Without being especially shy, they have their wits about them and
frequently the piping note which they utter when well on the wing (not
just prior to rising) is the first indication of their presence to
the shooter. The striking contrast of color between the dark greenish
mantle and the snow white rump and tail coverts render its recognition
a fairly simple matter. From the wood sandpiper it can be readily
distinguished if a glimpse can be caught of the undersurface of the
wing, for in the green sandpiper the axillars are very dark, looking
almost black, whereas in the wood sandpiper they appear almost white
with faint barrings.
_Voice._--With regard to the notes, during the breeding season the
alarm is given by a loud sharp call which is variously written as
_gik_, _giff_, _yick_, _yeck_, etc., somewhat recalling the nuthatches’
call. Christoleit also describes a pairing song, which bears some
resemblance to that of the other sandpipers, but does not make it clear
whether it is uttered on the wing or on the ground. In forested country
it is naturally not so easy to settle a point of this kind as in open
country. The full song is written by him as: _Tittittitluidich-luidich
titluidie titluidie titluidie-titt-titt_. Probably this is the love
song and forms part of the courtship, but we still await a connected
history of the courtship of this species.
_Fall._--Hintz noticed the last birds on their German breeding grounds
up to July 25, and it is about the middle of July when the first
immigrants appear in the British Isles. The great majority of our
visitors have left by November. During the period of its stay it is
rarely to be met with on the seashore, but nearly always makes its way
inland by means of the water courses, preferring a sheltered brookside
or an inland pool to the open marshes.
_Winter._--The evidence of wintering in South Africa rests entirely
on some old records by Layard, unsupported by skins, but the winter
quarters undoubtedly extend to Angola, British Central Africa, and
Portuguese East Africa. Unlike so many waders it does not associate
in large flocks, but generally is found singly or in small parties on
inland waters in preference to the coast. Large numbers winter in Egypt
and a good many at suitable spots in the Mediterranean Region. In Luzon
(Philippine Islands) Whitehead found it common in December in Benguet,
at a height of 4,000 feet, and on Rumenzon it has been met with at
6,000 feet, while in Abyssinia, Jesse describes it as common on the
highlands, but did not meet with it on the coast.
DISTRIBUTION
_Breeding range._--Northern Europe; but very sparingly in Norway up
to Nordland; in Sweden more generally north to the Arctic Circle;
Finland to 63° 10´; North Russia south of the White Sea and on the
Kamin Peninsula (66° 50´). Southward it breeds in the Baltic Republics,
in North Germany (Holstein?, Oldenburg?, Hanover, Mark Brandenburg,
Pommern, West and East Prussia, Silesia); sparingly in Bavaria;
Czechoslovakia (Bohemia), Galizia and the Carpathians; possibly
occasionally in Jutland, but records from South France and North
Italy can not be relied on. In Asia it breeds across the continent in
the valleys of the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, etc., south to Turkestan and
Transcaspia.
_Winter Range._--The main winter quarters lie in southern Europe and
Africa where it ranges south to Portuguese East Africa, British Central
Africa, and Angola, perhaps even to the Cape (Layard) and in Asia to
Iraq, India, Ceylon, the Andamans, Burma, Cochin China, China, Hainan,
Formosa, and the Malay Archipelago (Philippines).