and flies while the birds remain on the highlands; when they move
to the ponds and seashores they eat copepods, amphipods, etc. As
soon as the young birds are well able to fly they resort to the
tide pools and small ponds near the sea. Later the older birds join
them and the flocks increase in size to several hundred in
favorable places. This takes place in August and September in such
localities as the Salt Lagoon of St. Paul Island.
_Plumages._--The color pattern of the downy young Pribilof sandpiper is
similar to that of the Aleutian, but the colors are different, much
duller. The bright browns and buffs of the upper parts are replaced by
"burnt umber," "snuff brown," "clay color," and "cinnamon buff," and the
black markings are largely replaced by dark browns; the black patch in
the center of the back is about as in the Aleutian. The under parts are
less pure white, always suffused with pale buff on the throat and flanks
and sometimes largely so on the breast also.
Mr. Palmer's (1899) studies of the molts and plumages indicate that they
are similar to those of the Aleutian sandpiper; he writes:
The downy young are beautiful little things, silvery white beneath,
bright, rich ocherous above, variegated with black and dots of
white. The general color above lacks the grayness of the similar
age of _maritimus_. The white dots are interesting under the
microscope. They are composed of a bunch of highly specialized
down, in which the radii near the tip are crowded and colorless. As
they grow older the first feathers appear on the sides of the
breast, on the back and scapulars; then the primaries and larger
wing coverts appear. The feathering continues until the breast and
under parts are covered, when the tail appears. At this time there
are no feathers on the rump or on the head or neck. In the next
stage feathers have appeared on the occiput and on the auriculars
and are also extending up the neck. At the same time the tips of
the back feathers have become somewhat worn, so that the colored
margins are narrower and the black more prominent. The wing coverts
are also to some extent worn on their tips. When the bill is an
inch long the down has nearly all disappeared, and when it has
entirely gone the birds appear in small flocks on the beaches, the
young generally keeping together. Then another change takes place,
for the entire plumage now gives way to another, that in which the
bird passes the winter. A few late July, immature birds show the
beginning, for No. 118832, im. [male], July 29, has a few new
feathers on the middle of the back and on the scapulars. They soon
extend all over the back, so that specimens collected up to August
10 have many of the new whitish feathers on that region.
The contrast is striking between these feathers, the latest being
of an almost even shade of pale plumbean with darker centers and
generally with a narrow white margin. There are no specimens to
show the complete change, but it is probable that these young birds
remain on the islands until it is completed. By the middle of June
the adults have fully changed to the breeding plumage, but on some
specimens a few feathers of the previous winter's plumage persist
much later. Thus on many specimens some alternate feathers of the
scapulars and tertials are of the previous winter's well-worn
plumage. In fact, few specimens are free from these old feathers.
Soon after the middle of July the new plumage of the next winter
begins to appear. At first a few feathers show about the breast,
then on the scapulars, thence up the neck and over the head, so
that by the 10th of August they have changed one-half. It would
thus appear that before this species leaves the islands they assume
entirely their new dress. And at this season, August 10, old and
young flock together for the first time, and confine themselves to
the sand beaches and surf margins about the islands for a few
weeks, when they take flight by the 1st or 5th of September, and
disappear until the opening of the new season.
The Pribilof sandpiper is much paler in the juvenal plumage and grayer
in the winter plumage than the Aleutian.
_Food._--Preble and McAtee (1923) report on the contents of 192
stomachs, as follows:
The articles of food composing more than 1 per cent of the total
were: Mollusks, 32.63 per cent; crustaceans, 29.15 per cent; flies
(Diptera), 23.49 per cent; beetles, 10.29 per cent; marine worms,
1.27 per cent; and vegetable matter, chiefly algae, 1.21 per cent.
The vegetable matter, besides algae, included bits of moss and a
few seeds of grass, lupine, violet, crowberry, and bottle brush.
_Behavior._--Referring to the habits of Pribilof sandpipers, Mr. Palmer
(1899) says:
They appear stupid when solitary and without a family, and will
stand perfectly still, eying one from a little eminence.
Occasionally we are startled by a loud _druuett_ from the side of a
sand dune, and I was at a loss for some time to discover the owner
of this most unmusical sound, which finally turned out to be an
individual of this species standing motionless and watching us. It
would seem impossible for this sound to have issued from this bird
if I had not seen it in the act. These sandpipers have the habit in
common with others of their kind of suddenly elevating the wing
directly over the back. Often when alighting on the tundra, as soon
as they stopped up went one wing, followed soon after, perhaps, by
the other. Often while watching a flock on the lagoon beach first
one would elevate a wing, then another; it was always the near wing
which went up first. I never saw a bird elevate the off wing first.
I know of no reason for their doing so. They are tame. I have
walked up to a flock of about 50, and with care could drive them
before me for some distance before they took flight, being but a
few feet away. They are often seen feeding in the water up to their
breasts, and seem to take delight in it. They swim readily, but not
often. On June 30 I saw one fly out to a stone in a pool, and after
gathering all the food possible it deliberately swam to another,
and having visited each stone in the same way flew back to the
shore and then bathed itself, occasionally taking a swim.
_Voice._--Mr. Hanna (1921) describes the notes of this bird as follows:
If a person climbs to the sandpiper country on St. George during
May or June one of his first surprises will be a series of notes
very much like those of the flicker, a full deep whistle repeated
in the same pitch about a dozen times in quick succession. The bird
utters this while on the wing, most likely when it is coming toward
the intruder with great speed. When close by it wheels and settles
lightly on a near-by hummock or "niggerhead." One wing will be held
vertically extended for a few seconds after alighting and may be
flashed at short intervals thereafter. Another note for which I
have no descriptive language always reminded me of the sound of
tree frogs. It is the note usually given when the birds are on the
ground. While neither can be called a song they are very attractive
and pleasant to the listener and most surprising to one familiar
with the "peep peep" of sandpipers in winter.
_Field marks._--In winter the Pribilof sandpiper looks much like the
purple sandpiper; it frequents similar haunts and has much the same
habits. But its summer plumage, with its rufous upper parts and mottled
under parts, is strikingly different. It resembles the Aleutian
sandpiper in all plumages, but it is decidedly larger and, in summer,
its upper parts are lighter rufous and there is more white in the under
parts.
_Fall._--According to Preble and McAtee (1923):
About the middle of July, when the nesting birds are freed from
family cares, they begin to resort to the beaches to feed, and at
night gather in flocks to roost on some favorite rocky point. Later
the young join the adults and the flocks increase in size through
August. About August 9 the birds began to be common about the
beaches, the flocks there apparently being in excess of the number
breeding on the islands, and in all probability, therefore,
comprised in part of migrants from other breeding stations. They
continued to be abundant until my departure on the last of August.
The Pribilof sandpiper is too rare and beautiful to be treated as a game
bird, but Mr. Hanna (1921) writes:
The birds possess some economic importance to the natives of the
Pribilofs, and they have occasionally been eaten in the officers'
messes. Their habit of congregating in fairly compact flocks and
their fearless unassuming nature make them easy targets. For this
reason close watch should be kept of the numbers returning
annually, and should any noticeable diminution take place strict
prohibitive measures can and should be invoked. This is possible
because the islands are under strict governmental control as
regards all wild life. Because of its limited range it would not be
a difficult matter to completely exterminate the species. Special
protective measures at this time, however, are not believed to be
essential because there is even less hunting now than there has
been for fifty or more years. The introduction of livestock and
reindeer for fresh food removes in large measure the necessity for
shooting, and the native is ordinarily too indolent to hunt unless
he has to do so for food.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Known only from the islands in Bering Sea and the coast of
Alaska.
_Breeding range._--The Pribilof sandpiper breeds on the Pribilof Islands
(St. Paul and St. George Islands) and north in Bering Sea to St. Matthew
Island, Hall Island, and St. Lawrence Island.
_Winter range._--The winter range is imperfectly known, but it has been
taken in this season at Portage Bay, Alaska, and probably occupies much
of the Alaskan coast southeastward to (rarely) the Lynn Canal.
_Migration._--They have been noted in spring to arrive at St. Paul
Island March 5; Nushagak, Alaska, April 1 to 14; St. George Island April
23; at St. Paul Island April 24; and Point Dall, Alaska, May 23.
Late departures in the fall have been observed at St. George Island,
October 3; and St. Paul Island November 16.
Early fall arrivals have been noted on the Alaskan coast at Igiak Bay,
July 23; Tigalda Island, August 5; Unimak, August 14; and Dexter, Norton
Sound, August 29.
_Egg dates._--Pribilof Island: 32 records, May 6 to July 2; 16 records,
May 30 to June 11.
ARQUATELLA PTILOCNEMIS COUESI (Ridgway)
ALEUTIAN SANDPIPER
HABITS
I prefer the above scientific name to the Check List name, because I can
not believe that the Aleutian sandpiper is a subspecies of the purple
sandpiper. The Aleutian sandpiper was originally described by Robert
Ridgway (1880) as a distinct species. Later it was treated, and still
stands on our Check List, as a subspecies of the purple sandpiper,
because it somewhat resembles it in its winter plumage. In Mr. Ridgway's
(1919) latest work, he treats it as a subspecies of the Pribilof
sandpiper, a closely related form, which had been previously described;
he there describes it as "similar to _A. p. ptilocnemis_ but decidedly
smaller and much darker in color; the summer plumage with blackish and
rusty or cinnamon-rufous predominating on back and scapulars, and all
the colors much darker and more extended. Very similar in winter plumage
to _A. maritima_, but summer plumage and young very different, both
being conspicuously marked with rusty on back and scapulars, and the
summer plumage with breast conspicuously blotched or clouded with
dusky."
Among a series of 11 birds of this species, which we collected on Attu
Island, at the extreme western end of the Aleutian Chain, on June 23,
1911, are two birds which closely resemble _ptilocnemis_ in color, but
in size are typical of _couesi_. At least one of them was a breeding
bird, the parent of a brood of downy young, and doubtless both of them
were summer resident birds. Dr. Ernst Hartert (1920) has described the
resident bird of the Commander Islands as a distinct subspecies, under
the name _Erolia maritima quarta_, of which he says: "In full summer
plumage the feather-edgings are broader than in any other form and
brighter, more rusty red, so that the rusty red seems to predominate on
the whole of the upper parts." This description seems to fit our two
birds from Attu Island very well; so that, if _quarta_ is a recognizable
form, as it seems to be, this subspecies should be added to our North
American list. The birds could easily fly across from the Commander
Islands to Attu Island and establish themselves there.
_Spring._--The spring migration of this sandpiper is not extensive. Many
birds have remained all winter on or near their breeding grounds in the
Aleutian Islands; others have wintered along the coast as far south as
Washington. D. E. Brown tells me that they remain on Destruction Island
until May 1 and that they have been seen on Forrester Island as late as
June 15. H. S. Swarth (1911) found them "very abundant" on Kuiu Island
during his stay there from April 25 to May 6; he writes:
In company with the black turnstone and some other waders, they
frequented the broad mud flats, which, at low tide, extend over
hundreds of acres at this point. As the tide advanced their feeding
grounds became more and more restricted, until, as the last
available spot was covered, the whole flock departed, with roar of
wings, to some jutting rocks at the mouth of the bay, there to
remain, preening their plumage and resting, until the receding
waters again exposed the mud banks. The flocks seen at this place
comprised many hundred individuals, and it is curious that the
species was observed absolutely nowhere else.
Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes from Hooper Bay:
The Aleutian sandpiper is a common transient visitor in the
vicinity of Point Dall and is said by the natives to be a breeding
bird in the mountain fastnesses of Cape Romanzoff. This species was
first identified by us on May 18, but it may have arrived a few
days earlier because up to that time we did not suspect its
presence. It associated itself with the red-backed sandpiper, to
which in the field it has a marked superficial resemblance and in
consequence we may have overlooked it. These birds at that time
travelled in bands of from 20 to 40 individuals and at low tide fed
on the ice-bound sea beach that was then exposed, but when the high
water came in and up to the wall of shore ice, thus covering their
feeding grounds, they moved back along the open river margins and
marshy pond borders. From May 23 to May 28 they were very common,
when suddenly they departed, only to reappear in early July. The
natives are very positive in their assertions that this island
dweller breeds in the rugged mountains about Cape Romanzoff, but as
we did not visit that area we could not authenticate their
statements, nor did we learn anything of its nidification.
Lucien M. Turner (1886) writes:
The Aleutian sandpiper arrives at St. Michaels early in May of each
year, and in considerable numbers, being generally, on their
arrival, in the dark plumage, which is changed for the summer by
the first of June on this locality. On their appearance they are
strictly littoral-maritime, resorting to the larger bowlders and
rocky shelves covered with seaweed, among which these birds
industriously search for slugs and other marine worms. Usually
several birds are together, rarely singly, and seldom over 8 or 10
in a flock.
Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885) says that, in the Commander Islands:
In March their ranks are reinforced by newcomers which have
wintered on more hospitable shores, and in the latter part of the
month enormous flocks of 500 or more swarm along the beach,
especially on the north shore. About one month later the great
flocks dissolve into small companies, which, following the water
courses, disperse over the whole island, settling in pairs on
suitable places at the beaches, on the tundras, or on the mountain
plateaus, this bird being in fact one of the most numerous and the
most equally distributed species of land birds on the islands.
_Courtship._--We frequently observed the charming song flight of this
sandpiper in the Aleutian Islands. The birds were especially abundant on
Tanaga Island, where we found them nesting on the little knolls or
hummocks on the tundra in a large alluvial plain back of the beach
hillocks. The males were very active and noisy, indulging in their
hovering song flights, rising 30 or 40 feet in the air and fluttering
down while pouring out a delightful twittering song. Also, while flying
about or while standing on some prominent hummock, they gave their loud,
musical melodious calls of the upland plover; these loud notes were not
heard anywhere except on their breeding grounds and were probably notes
of greeting or of warning to their mates. Doctor Stejneger (1885)
writes:
It was in the late afternoon of the 28th of April, 1883, that I
first witnessed this singing performance of the sandpiper. The bird
rose from the _Rhododendron_ tundra on the northern slope of
Kamennij Valley, and while flying about on quivering wings,
sometimes remaining quite still in the air, it uttered a loud,
agreeable, and melodious twitter, which really must be called a
"song," whereupon, with outstretched wings, it descended obliquely,
seating itself upon the top of a tussock. Sitting there, with
puffed plumage and pendant wings, it produced a loud "bleating," so
much like that of _Gallinago gallinago_ as to completely convince
me that the analogous note of the latter is produced by the throat
in exactly the same manner. During the "bleating" the whole bird
was quivering with a tremulous motion as if in a high state of
excitement. The voice was slightly more melodious than that of the
snipe.
_Nesting._--While wandering over the foothills of Kiska Island on June
17, 1911, I found my first nest of the Aleutian sandpiper. I was
crossing a flat place, high up on a hill, covered with moss and scanty
growth of grass, when the bird fluttered off almost underfoot, feigning
lameness. The nest was a deep hollow in the moss, 3 inches in diameter
and fully 2 inches deep, partially concealed by a few blades of scanty
grass, and lined with dead leaves, a few straws, and a few feathers of
the bird. The four eggs were only slightly incubated. I found a similar
nest, containing three small, downy young, on Attu Island on June 23;
the nest was on a little hummock on a hillside, a deep hollow, lined
with dead leaves and bits of straw. It was the male bird that flew from
the nest in both cases.
Austin H. Clark (1910) found a nest on Attu Island on the side of a
mountain, 700 feet or more above the valley and near an extensive patch
of snow. Alfred M. Bailey (1925) found a nest at Emma Harbor, Siberia,
on July 4, 1921, containing three young and an egg; the nest was "on the
shores of the bay, in gravel along the beach." He also found several
nests the following season near Wales, Alaska; "the nesting sites varied
from exposed depressions in the moss to well-concealed dried grass." A
set of eggs in Edward Arnold's collection, taken by Sheldon and Lamont
on Montague Island, Alaska, June 22, 1916, came from a nest "on débris
just above tidewater."
_Eggs._--The Aleutian sandpiper almost invariably lays four eggs,
although five have been found. These are ovate pyriform in shape and
have a slight gloss. The ground color is "olive buff" or "deep olive
buff." They are heavily, boldly, and irregularly blotched, chiefly about
the larger end, with a few scattering smaller spots. The markings are in
dark browns, "chestnut brown," "burnt umber," and "seal brown," varying
with the thickness of the pigment. There are underlying blotches of
"brownish drab," producing very handsome eggs. They can not always be
distinguished with certainty from eggs of the Pribilof sandpiper, as
they vary greatly in size; they average smaller, but the measurements
overlap widely. The measurements of 50 eggs average 38 by 26.6
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =43.2= by 26.8,
39.4 by =28=, =35= by 26.3, and 37.3 by =24.1= millimeters.
_Young._--Incubation is apparently performed by both sexes, and both
assist in the care of the young. The birds that I flushed from my two
nests, one with eggs and one with young, both proved to be males. Mr.
Turner (1886) says:
The males are much devoted to their mates while incubating, and I
have every reason to believe that the male does the greater part of
the labor of incubating, as they were the ones generally found
either on or near the nests. When alighting near the nest either
sex has the habit of raising its wings perpendicularly and slowly
folding them, all the while uttering a trilling peep, continued for
several seconds.
The parents are very devoted to their young, employing the usual tactics
to divert the attention of the intruder, stumbling and fluttering over
the ground, as if both legs and wings were broken. The young leave the
nest as soon as they are strong enough to run, but remain with their
parents until they are fully fledged in their first winter or juvenal
plumage and ready to fly in August.
_Plumages._--The downy young Aleutian resembles, in color pattern, the
young purple sandpiper, but can easily be recognized by its warmer and
richer browns. The upper half of the head is "warm buff," shading off to
"pale buff" on the lores and cheeks and to pure white on the throat and
neck. A median black stripe is broad on the crown, tapering to a point
at the bill; loral and malar black stripes converge at the bill; the
rest of the upper head is spotted or striped with black. The nape is a
mixture of dull buff and dusky. The back, wings, and thighs are
variegated with black, "ochraceous tawny" and "warm buff," everywhere
sprinkled with conspicuous dots, terminal tufts, of buffy white in an
irregular pattern; there is a more or less well-defined black patch in
the center of the back, varying in different individuals, centrally
veiled with "burnt sienna" tips. The entire under parts are pure white.
In the juvenal plumage the center of the crown is blackish brown, with
"ochraceous tawny" edgings; the rest of the crown and nape are "deep
mouse gray"; the feathers of the back are brownish black, broadly edged
with "tawny" or "ochraceous tawny"; the scapulars and all the wing
coverts are deep sepia, broadly edged with colors varying from "tawny"
to buffy white, whitest on the coverts; the under parts are white, with
a broad band of pale buff across the throat and breast; the flanks are
somewhat tinged with the same color; the throat, breast, and flanks are
more or less heavily marked with median dusky streaks. This plumage is
worn through July and part, or all, of August. The postjuvenal molt of
the body plumage begins in some birds about the 1st of August, but in
others not until two or three weeks later. This produces a first winter
plumage similar to that of the adult, but distinguishable by the faded
juvenal wing coverts and a few retained scapulars and tertials.
The partial prenuptial molt of both young birds and adults comes rather
late in the spring, April and May, and involves the body plumage and
some of the wing coverts and scapulars. Adults also have a complete
postnuptial molt, beginning in August and lasting until October. The
winter plumage is similar to that of the purple sandpiper, but it is
conspicuously marked on the breast and flanks with large triangular or
circular spots of dusky, whereas the purple sandpiper usually has a
plain gray breast in winter.
_Food._--Very little seems to be known about the food of the Aleutian
sandpiper, but probably its diet is very similar to that of the purple
sandpiper, which has similar feeding habits. Both species are fond of
frequenting rocky shores and stony beaches, where they seem to be
gleaning food. Doctor Stejneger (1885) has seen them "at low water
eagerly picking up Gammarids among the stones close to the breakers."
Bernard J. Bretherton (1896) writes:
Large flocks of these birds were seen during February, 1893, but
were not met with during other winters. They were met with on a low
sand bar, after a protracted storm which had thrown up millions of
sand fleas, upon which they were feeding so industriously as to be
easily approached and to which feast they returned several times,
even after their ranks had been thinned by raking charges of fine
shot.