rolling tundra, but an occasional isolated pair was found on the
dry grass lands of the tide flats. This species builds the most
substantial of any of the shorebirds nests that we met with at
Hooper Bay, for even after it was removed from the grassy cavity in
which it was built the nest would often hold firmly together. The
birds showed exceptional skill in the concealment of their homes
and consequently they were very difficult to find for they chose a
tract where the curly bunch grass grew abundantly and under its
domed protection they constructed an excavation deep in the moss.
Here a substantial nest is fashioned of grasses and tediously lined
or rather filled with small crisp leaves of the low perennial
plants that there, in a dwarf creeping form, are the only
representatives of the great inland forests. The dimensions vary
between the following extremes: Inside diameter 3 to 3-1/2 inches;
depth 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 inches; and outside depth 3-1/2 to 5 inches.
We never observed other than the female carrying on the loving
duties of incubation and seldom indeed was the male even in close
attendance. The female is very difficult to approach on the nest
because she invariably leaves it before the ornithologist draws
near and consequently we spent many hours endeavoring to watch the
shy bird return to her nest.
The behavior of parent birds about the nests seems to be variable. W.
Sprague Brooks (1915) says:
On approaching the vicinity of the nest the bird would leave it
quietly and walk slowly about feeding and showing no excitement
whatever. This happened several times until I decided to watch the
bird and see if by any chance she might have a nest. In a short
time she walked to a bunch of grass a few feet from me and settled
on the nest. Even while I was packing away the eggs she showed no
concern. I had precisely the same experience with the other two
nests.
On the other hand, Alfred M. Bailey (1926) writes:
On July 3 Hendee flushed a female from a set of four slightly
incubated eggs. "The nest," he states, "was in a patch of marsh
grass, similar to the location usually chosen by the phalaropes,
except that the ground was not wet. The female fluttered away to a
distance of about 30 feet and went through a remarkable performance
in her attempt to decoy me from the nest. She crept about among the
hummocks in a very unbirdlike fashion, uttering all the time a
mouse-like squeaking."
_Eggs._--Mr. Brandt in his manuscript notes has described the eggs so
well that I can not do better than to quote him, as follows:
The eggs of the pectoral sandpiper are of particular interest
because they are perhaps the most beautiful of the many handsome
shore-bird eggs that are found in the Hooper Bay region. Their rich
and contrasting colors, their bold splashed markings, and high
luster make them veritable gems of oological perfection. In all
nests that came under our observation four eggs constituted the
complement, and these generally nestled points together amid the
crisp leafy lining of their birthplace, standing most often at an
obtuse angle to the horizontal. In outline they range from
subpyriform to ovate pyriform. The exterior of the shell has a
smooth, almost polished surface that reflects in many eggs a high
luster. The ground color varies considerably from dull white to
"cream buff" and even to "deep olive buff," but in all sets I have
seen the ground color and markings follow the same shades and types
in the same set of eggs. The surface markings are bold and
individual, and appear as if they were daubed with a paint brush.
These large rich spots are elongated and are placed parallel to the
long axis of the egg, showing but little tendency to spiral. The
heaviest markings are at the larger end, often merging into a large
"chocolate" blotch, and in one case this rich blot of color covered
more than a fourth of the egg. The color of the markings ranges
from "walnut brown" and "sepia" to "chocolate" and "blackish
brown," with "chocolate" the predominating shade. The underlying
spots are prominent and numerous on some eggs, while on others they
are almost wanting. They vary from "pearl gray" to "violet gray,"
with an occasional egg inclined to "Isabella color." In fact, each
different clutch of eggs exhibits some individual interesting
peculiarity.
My only set, taken for me by Mr. Hersey, would fit the above description
very well, but it is not particularly handsome. The ground color is dull
white or "pale olive buff," which is more or less evenly marked with
small blotches and spots of "bister" and "bone brown." Mr. Murdoch
(1885) says that they "may be distinguished from those of the
buff-breasted sandpiper, which they closely resemble, by their warmer
color." The measurements of 116 eggs, in the United States National
Museum and in Mr. Brandt's collection, average 36.5 by 25 millimeters;
the eggs showing the four extremes measure =38.5= by 25, 38 by =27=,
=34= by 24.9, and 35.5 by =24.5= millimeters.
_Young._--Mr. Conover writes to me as follows:
The incubation period seems to run from 21 to 23 days. A nest found
May 31 with the complete set of four eggs was hatched on the
morning of June 21. Another nest containing four eggs, from which
the old bird was flushed, was found on June 2 and hatched on June
25. The first young were found on June 21. Contrary to their habits
when there were only eggs in the nest, the mothers now showed great
concern for their young. At one time Murie 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. The
male seems to take no part on the incubation or care of the young.
He was often seen to join a hen driven from the nest, but only for
purposes of courtship, as he would start booming immediately and
chase her about. Before the eggs began to hatch, male birds seemed
to disappear from the tundra. There was never more than one bird
seen with the young. Thirty days seemed to be about the time
necessary for the chicks to mature, as by July 20 fully fledged
young were seen commonly about the tundra.
Mr. Buturlin (1907) says:
When I approached the breeding ground the old birds flew to meet
me, one after another, and wheeled around uttering low tremulous
notes of various kinds. These calls were evidently meant for the
young and had different meanings. When the female is with them (and
you must sit watching for an hour or more to observe this), the
little ones are somewhat shy and take refuge under her. If you make
the slightest movement she flies up, uttering the usual _kirip_,
and kicks the young forwards, never backwards, until they tumble
head over heels 5 or 6 inches away. There they lie as if dead, but
with open eyes, and the mother flies around uttering a low
tremulous _kirip, kirip, trip, trrrrrr_, evidently meaning "lie
quite still." Then she alights near the young and runs about
feigning lameness, while trying in every way to make you attempt to
capture her. If, however, you keep quite quiet she becomes
reassured, approaches near to where her young are, and utters with
tender modulations, _day-day-day, day-day-day_, which means
evidently "all right, come here." Then the chicks commence to chirp
_peep, peep, peeyp_, and run to their mother. On one occasion I
observed all this at a distance of about 10 paces, and once I was
only about 3 paces from them. The downy young know their mother's
call _day-day-day_ so well that on one occasion a young bird, which
I was taking home in my butterfly net, when it heard a female call
quite close to me, climbed out of the net to rejoin her.
Mr. Brandt in his manuscript notes writes:
The potential energy stored up in the small richly colored eggs of
this northern sandpiper is almost beyond comprehension. The downy
chicks, as soon as they are out of the shell, show wonderful
activity. When they are but 30 minutes old, their apparently slight
legs carry them over the ground with great rapidity. They know at
birth how to hide among the hummocks and vegetation so as to defy
the sharpest eyes. In three weeks they are awing and six weeks
later they are off on their long journey to the south, crossing
mighty mountain ridges, great stretches of land and of sea.
According to W. H. Hudson (1920), the pectoral sandpiper arrives in the
La Plata region, in southern South America, about the end of August, and
he writes:
Among these first comers there are some young birds, so immature,
with threads of yellow down still adhering to the feathers of the
head, and altogether weak in appearance, that one can scarcely
credit the fact that so soon after being hatched they have actually
performed the stupendous journey from the northern extremity of the
North American continent to the Buenos-Ayrean pampas.
_Plumages._--The young pectoral in down is a beauty and is distinctively
colored. The forehead, back to the eyes, lores, sides of the head and
neck, and the breast are from "cinnamon buff" to "cream buff," paling to
white or grayish white on the throat and belly. There is a broad, black,
median stripe from the crown to the bill, a narrow, black loral stripe,
which is joined by another, still narrower, malar stripe under the eye,
extending to the auriculars; below the ear is a dark-brown spot. In the
center of the crown is a black spot, surrounded by a circle of buffy
white dots; around this the crown is a mixture of black and "burnt
sienna," bordered with buffy white, except in front; and around this
border, or along each side of it, is a narrow stripe of blackish brown
above the buffy superciliary stripe. The nape is grizzly brown, buff,
and whitish. The back, wings, and thighs are variegated with black,
"chestnut," and "burnt sienna," and decorated with small dots of buffy
white in an irregular pattern.
The juvenal plumage is much like that of the summer adult, except that
the feathers of the mantle, scapulars, and the median and lesser wing
coverts are edged with brighter colors, "tawny," "ochraceous-buff," and
creamy white; and the breast is more buffy or yellowish. This plumage is
apparently worn all through the fall and winter or until the first
prenuptial molt in February and March, when the body plumage is renewed.
At the first postnuptial molt, the next summer, the young bird becomes
indistinguishable from the adult, having molted the entire plumage.
Adults have a partial prenuptial molt in the spring, from February to
June, which involves the body plumage, except the back and rump and some
of the scapulars, tertials, and wing coverts. The complete postnuptial
molt of adults is much prolonged; the body molt begins in August, but
the wings are not molted until the bird reaches its winter home,
beginning in October and often lasting until February. Two adult females
taken by Doctor Wetmore (1926) on September 9 in Paraguay "were in worn
breeding plumage with no indication of molt." And one shot in Uruguay
February 8 had renewed all but a few feathers of the entire plumage,
while a male taken the same day was molting its primaries. There is very
little difference between the summer and winter plumages; the feather
edgings of the upper parts are more rufous in summer and more ashy in
winter.
_Food._--According to Preble and McAtee (1923), the contents of 21
well-filled gizzards of this species consisted principally of "flies
(Diptera), 54.5 per cent; amphipods, 22.3 per cent; vegetable matter,
chiefly algae, 10.5 per cent; beetles, 8 per cent; Hymenoptera, 2.1 per
cent; and bugs (Hemiptera), 1.3 per cent." Other things eaten were
mites, spiders, and caddis fly larvae and a few seeds of grass, lupine,
and violet. P. L. Hatch (1892) says that "their food is principally
crickets in spring, interlarded with various dry-land larvae, small
beetles, and ground worms. In the fall the grasshoppers are first
chosen, after which crickets and whatever other insects prevail at this
season." Birds taken by B. S. Bowdish (1902) in Porto Rico had eaten
fiddler crabs. Pectoral sandpipers feed mainly in grassy meadows, more
or less dry, and their food is chiefly insects.
_Behavior._--On the grassy salt meadows, where we usually find it, I
have often been impressed with the resemblance of this sandpiper and the
Wilson snipe, both in appearance and in behavior. It is often found in
wisps or scattered flocks, the individuals widely separated and
crouching in the grass. Often it flushes close at hand with a startling
harsh cry and dashes hurriedly away with a zigzag flight. Sometimes it
flutters away for only a short distance and drops quickly into the
grass. Again it makes a long flight, circling high in the air and then
pitches down suddenly in some distant part of the marsh, or perhaps near
the starting point. Though erratic at first, the flight is swift and
direct when well under way. They sometimes fly in flocks like other
sandpipers, but more often they are flushed singly. They usually flock
by themselves but are sometimes associated, purely fortuitously I
believe, with other species that frequent similar feeding grounds, such
as Wilson snipe, Baird, least or semipalmated sandpipers.
The pectoral sandpiper has another snipelike habit of standing
motionless in the grass, relying on its concealing coloration, where its
striped plumage renders it almost invisible, even in plain sight. It
moves about slowly while feeding, probing in the mud with rapid strokes.
Often it stands perfectly still with its head held high, watching an
intruder; the dark markings on its neck end abruptly on the white
breast, breaking up the outline and helping the bird to fade into the
background. It is occasionally seen swimming across a narrow creek or
channel.
_Voice._--This is a rather noisy bird, especially so on its breeding
ground, and its short, sharp flight notes are quite characteristic of
the "creaker." Mr. Nichols contributes the following good description of
them:
The notes of the pectoral sandpiper have a reedy character,
intermediate in tone between the clearer calls of most shore birds
and the hoarse cry of the Wilson's snipe. This is in keeping with
its habits. Its characteristic flight note is a loud reedy _kerr_,
resembling that of the semipalmated sandpiper (_cherk_) more
closely than any other shore bird call, but recognizably heavier.
Rarely in flight, the _kerr_ varies into or is replaced by a
near-whistled _krru_. On being flushed it often has hoarse, hurried
cheeping notes, analogous with similar harsher notes of the
Wilson's snipe. When in a flock of its own kind, alert and on the
move, it has a short, snappy flocking note, a chorus of _tcheps_ or
_chips_. To my ear its flushing note is more or less a combination
of flight note and flocking note, and it may reasonably be so. The
flocking note communicates alertness to near-by members of a flock;
the flight note is used more emphatically by birds separated from
their companions or in active flight and disposed for
companionship, whereas on being flushed the bird is signaling to
possible companions; but as it has been feeding singly, concealed
from such others as there may be by the grass, their distance is
uncertain.
_Field marks._--The pale-gray, almost white, tail with its dark, almost
black, center and rump, is conspicuous in flight; a pale stripe in the
wing is less noticeable. The snipelike colors of the upper parts, the
dark, heavily streaked breast, contrasted sharply with the white under
parts, and the short olive-yellow legs are good field marks when the
bird is standing. The males are much larger than the females, which is
unusual among shore birds.
_Fall._--Regarding their departure from their breeding grounds, Murdoch
(1885) says:
After the breeding season, they keep very quiet and retired, like
the rest of the waders, and the adults appear to slip quietly away
without collecting into flocks, as soon as the young are able to
take care of themselves. As soon as the young have assumed the
complete fall plumage, that is about the 10th of August, they
gather in large flocks with the other young waders, especially
about the small ponds on the high land below Cape Smythe, and stay
for several days before they take their departure for the South.
Stray birds remain as late as the first week of September.
On the New England coast the pectoral is both an early and a late
migrant; a few adults sometimes appear in July and more come in August;
but the main flight, mostly young birds, comes in September and October;
they are often abundant in the latter month and I have seen them as late
as October 31. When with us it is seldom seen on the sandy flats or
beaches, but frequents the wet, fresh and salt meadows, preferably where
the grass has been cut and which after a rain are covered with shallow
pools of water. Here and along the margins of marshy creeks are its
favorite feeding grounds. It does not decoy well and is no longer
considered a game bird, but it has been popular with sportsmen for its
gamy qualities and for the excellence of its flesh.
There is a marked southeastward trend in the fall migration of this
species; from its breeding grounds in northern Alaska and northeastern
Siberia its main flight seems to be towards the Atlantic coast of the
United States; it is not abundant and rather irregular on the Pacific
coast south of Alaska; it is common at times in the interior of Canada
and usually abundant in New England. It occasionally occurs in enormous
numbers in Bermuda and seems to be always rare in Florida; these facts
would seem to indicate an ocean route to South America.
_Winter._--The winter home of the pectoral sandpiper is in southern
South America. Arthur H. Holland (1891) says that in the Argentine
Republic, it is "usually found in marshy land with long water weeds
abounding, frequenting the same spot for weeks together." Between
September and March 26, Doctor Wetmore (1926) recorded it as "fairly
common" at various places in Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. It
evidently spends over half the year in its winter home and makes very
rapid flights to and from its Arctic breeding grounds, where it makes a
short visit of about two months.
DISTRIBUTION
_Range._--Northeastern Siberia, and North and South America; accidental
in the Hawaiian Islands and the British Isles.
_Breeding range._--The pectoral sandpiper breeds mainly on the Arctic
coasts of Alaska and Mackenzie. North to Siberia (Kolyma Delta); Alaska
(Cape Lisburne, Cape Smythe, Point Barrow, Colville delta, Collinson
Point, Barter Island, and Demarcation Point); Yukon (Herschel Island);
northeastern Mackenzie (Cambridge Bay); and northeastern Manitoba (York
Factory). East to northeastern Manitoba (York Factory). South to
Manitoba (York Factory); Mackenzie (Clinton-Colden Lake and Lac de
Gras); and Alaska (Tacotna Forks and Hooper Bay). West to Alaska (Hooper
Bay, Fort Clarence, Point Hope, and Cape Lisburne); and northeastern
Siberia (Kolyma Delta). It has also been reported in summer at Fort
Anderson and Bernard Harbor, Mackenzie, and in northwestern Greenland
(Cape Hatherton).
Summer occurrence outside the range above outlined are Keewatin (Cape
Eskimo); Manitoba (Button Bay); southwestern Alaska (Nushagak); and
northeastern Siberia (Cape Serdze, and Nijni Kolymsk).
_Winter range._--South America. North to Ecuador (near Quito); Bolivia
(Falls of the Madeira, San Luis, and Caiza); and Paraguay (Colonia
Risso). East to Uruguay (Santa Elena); and Argentina (Buenos Aires, La
Plata, Barracas, Chubut Valley, Port Desire, and Colonia Rouquand).
South and west to Argentina (Colonia Rouquand). West also to Chile
(Santiago, Huasco, Antofagasta, Atacama, and Tarapaca); Peru (Chorillos
and Junin); and Ecuador (near Quito).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are: Florida, Fort De Soto,
February 22, and Orange Hammock, February 25; Alabama, Greensboro, March
20; South Carolina, Frogmore, March 20; North Carolina, Raleigh, March
21; District of Columbia, Washington, March 26; Pennsylvania, Carlisle,
March 28, Beaver, April 1, and Harrisburg, April 7; New York,
Canandaigua, April 14, Buffalo, April 18, Gaines, May 5, and Orient, May
7; Massachusetts, Thompson's Island, March 30, Monomoy Island, April 11,
and Dennis, April 16; Maine, Scarboro, April 13; Quebec, Quebec, May 2;
Louisiana, Lake Borgne, March 12, New Orleans, March 18, and Baton Rouge
Parish, March 19; Mississippi, Biloxi, February 28; Arkansas, Glenwood,
March 27; Kentucky, Bowling Green, April 29; Missouri, St. Louis, March
2, Warrenburg, March 11, Fayette, March 16, and Independence, March 18;
Illinois, Englewood, March 9, Rantoul, March 14, Mount Carmel, March 15,
Canton, March 26, and Chicago, March 29; Indiana, Bloomington, March 15,
Terre Haute, March 17, Bicknell, March 18, and Greencastle, March 22;
Ohio, Columbus, March 1, New Bremen, March 24, Columbus, March 25,
Oberlin, March 25, Cincinnati, March 28, and Youngstown, March 31;
Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 8, and Detroit, April 12; Ontario, Ottawa,
April 27, and Fort Williams, May 10; Iowa, Keokuk, March 14, La Porte,
March 25, Sigourney, March 26, and Des Moines, March 31; Wisconsin,
Milwaukee, March 26, and Madison, March 31; Minnesota, Heron Lake, April
1, Hutchinson, April 5, and Wilder, April 6; Texas, Santa Maria,
February 28, Houston, March 7, and Hidalgo, March 16; Oklahoma, Ponca
City, March 31; Kansas, Topeka, March 29, and McPherson, April 9;
Nebraska, Lincoln, March 10; South Dakota, Sioux Falls, April 10, and
Forestburg, April 20; North Dakota, Charlson, April 27; Manitoba, Pilot
Mound, May 1, Reaburn, May 9, and Margaret, May 9; Saskatchewan, Lake
Johnston, May 9; Mackenzie, Sturgeon River, May 12, Fort Providence, May
14, Fort Simpson, May 16, and Fort Resolution, May 19; Colorado, Denver,
April 21; Montana, Fergus County, April 22; Washington, Menlo, April 1;
Yukon, Forty-mile, May 16, and Dawson, May 19; and Alaska, Bethel, May
4, St. Michael, May 15, Demarcation Point, May 23, Kowak River, May 27,
and Point Barrow, May 30.
Late dates of spring departure are: Costa Rica, Buenos Aires de Terrabe,
May 29, and San Jose, May 19; Florida, Fort De Soto, May 20;
Pennsylvania, Doylestown, May 27; New Jersey, Elizabeth, May 30; New
York, Canandaigua, May 24; Massachusetts, near Boston, June 3;
Louisiana, New Orleans, May 20; Mississippi, Bay St. Louis, May 10;
Arkansas, Arkansas City, May 15; Kentucky, Bowling Green, May 11;
Missouri, Lake Taney Como, May 7, St. Louis, May 11, and Columbia, May
15; Illinois, Elgin, May 12, Addison, May 17, La Grange, May 17, Havana,
May 24, and Chicago, June 18; Indiana, Greencastle, May 4, Lyons, May 6,
Crawfordsville, May 8, and Bloomington, May 9; Ohio, Tiffin, May 15,
Oberlin, May 20, Columbus, May 21, and Youngstown, May 24; Michigan,
Detroit, May 13, Hillsdale, May 17, and Ann Arbor, May 19; Ontario,
Ottawa, May 25; Iowa, Lake Okoboji, May 27, Emmetsburg, May 28, Sioux
City, May 30, and Forest City, May 31; Wisconsin, Elkhorn, May 14, and
Madison, May 19; Minnesota, Heron Lake, May 16, Minneapolis, May 18,
Hutchinson, May 19, and Hallock, May 28; Texas, Sweetwater, May 8,
Corpus Christi, May 11, and Decatur, May 19; Kansas, Fort Riley, May 24,
and Onaga, May 24; Nebraska, Valentine, May 17, and Neligh, May 26;
South Dakota, Vermilion, May 12, and Sioux Falls, June 11; North Dakota,
Charlson, May 11; Manitoba, Winnipeg, May 24, and Shoal Lake, June 2;
Montana, Big Sandy, May 18; and Washington, Fort Steilacoom, May 5.