On July 6, as I was returning from a long round over the tundra that lay in the northern angle of the Yenesei and Golchika Rivers, all at once I saw a little rufous curlew, which was standing on a tussock about 20 yards away, watching me quietly. When I stopped she flew away, but soon alighted again and looked at me. Full of excitement, but still rather skeptical as to the likelihood of finding eggs, I lay down and watched her, but at the end of an hour and a half I could come to no conclusion, for the bird only strolled about and preened herself nonchalantly. I was not even certain of her sex, and her solitude and her quiet behavior made me doubt whether, after all, she might not be a nonbreeding bird. Nevertheless, I marked the place and turned homeward, meaning to come back next day. On the morrow I turned out early and tramped over 8 swampy miles of tundra. The second pair of sandpipers were not to be seen, but the first bird was still pottering round the same spot. To-day she was a little more demonstrative and flew about uneasily. Once she uttered a sharp, anxious note, wick-wick-wick, two or three times repeated. By this time I was convinced that the nest was close at hand, but it was difficult to locate it, for although the bird could dodge me successfully enough behind tussocks of moss only 6 inches high, my person unfortunately was too bulky for these, the only available hiding places. The ground was on a very gradual slope. On the right hand and on the left were two small tarns, still covered with blue ice. In the distance grazed some herds of reindeer, and once a Samoyede sledge glided swiftly over a ridge. Heavy drifts of snow still lay in the sheltered hollow, and the sleet showers that came slapping over the tundra made me glad to wrap myself up in my Burberry coat.
The bird had whirled away round the tarn at my approach, so I hid myself as well as I could behind a tussock and settled down to wait for her return. Twenty minutes passed—half an hour. "It's time she was coming back," thought I, and turned my head carefully to reconnoiter. And lo and behold, not 30 yards behind, the sandpiper stood and studied me contemptuously! She had been watching all the time. "What a fool!" doubtless would have been her comment if she could have spoken. It is no use to try and gull the waders; up to a certain point I believe that they can almost see you think!
I retired abashed to another hiding place about 50 yards farther up the slope. The bird at once showed her appreciation of this move by flying toward the spot where I had first seen her. She was so small that it was very difficult to mark her as she tripped between the tussocks. When I thought that she must be settled on her eggs I jumped up quickly. She took wing at once, but when I went to the place whence she had risen there was no sign of the nest. This happened twice; but as she returned to the same spot each time, I knew that the treasure was there all right and that patience would win it. I marked the bird down by a dodge that I used when looking for gray plover's eggs under similar circumstances and which is described elsewhere; but each time that I flushed her she seemed to jump up from a different place. She was so little and so nimble that she could run over the moss for some yards before she was seen. The next time I gave her ample time to settle down and lay still in the wet, sucking lumps of sugar until I nearly fell asleep. Then all at once a Buffon's skua came overhead, flying low in the squally wind. I snatched my gun and shot him as he flew by, and as he fell I saw the sandpiper spring up from a spot where I had marked her once before. I left the skua and ran up to the place. The bird began to call again and drooped a wing to decoy me away. Half a minute's search and there was the nest at my feet.
Eggs.—The clutch consists of four eggs normally, blunt pyriform in shape with slight gloss. Walter describes the ground as pale yellowish white with greenish tinge and large and small blackish-brown spots, more confluent at large end. There are also a few pale violet-gray shell marks. They are snipelike in character, and the markings are rich and handsome, sometimes ranging to deep rufous brown in color. Their small size, combined with bold type of markings, renders them readily recognizable. The measurements of 20 eggs average 36.26 by 25.67 millimeters, the eggs showing the four extremes measure 39.6 by 25.6, 37.5 by 26.4, 33.3 by 25.3, and 36.6 by 25 millimeters.
Incubation.—The bird which Popham shot from the eggs was a female, but both males and females were obtained from the nests by the Russian ornithologists, so that apparently the duty is shared by both sexes.
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.—On its breeding grounds the main food of this species consists of insects. Cordeaux has found remains of Coleoptera and Diptera and their larvae in stomachs. Worms are also freely taken, but on migration it is a coastal species and subsists chiefly on marine forms, such as the small crustacea (Gammaridae) which are found in vast numbers on the shore, minute mollusca, and vegetable matter.
Behavior.—Even in the breeding season this species shows signs of a sociable disposition, several pairs breeding frequently at no great distance apart. When the young are fledged they assemble in flocks before leaving for the south and during the winter months may be found on the mud flats of our estuaries and flat coasts, as well as occasionally on reservoirs and sewage farms inland. During the breeding season it appears to be a silent bird, only a shrill alarm note, wick-wick-wick, being noted, while the shore haunting flocks keep up a long twitter.
Fall.—The migrations of this species are very extensive, reaching over practically the whole of the Old World. To the British Isles it is a passage migrant, arriving from the end of July to late October and occasionally November. In Denmark the old birds are said to arrive in August and the birds of the year in September, leaving in September-October. On the shores of the Baltic it occurs commonly, but seems to avoid the extreme west of Europe on its way south, though passing Tangier in September and occurring in small numbers in Portugal. It is also met with on passage in all the Mediterranean countries, as well as north Africa and passes the Canaries on migration. It ranges on the west side of Africa to Gaboon, Liberia, the Gold Coast, Princes Island, Loango, and south to Cape Province. While on the east side it is recorded from the Nile Valley, the Red Sea, Sudan, Mozambique, Zanzibar, Nyassaland, Madagascar, etc., and it occurs regularly on Mauritius. In Asia it ranges across the continent to the Indian Ocean, the Mekran coast, Sind, Yarkand, India, Ceylon, the Andamans Nicobars, Burmese coast, Malacca Peninsula, Hainan, Formosa, and East China. Further, it has been recorded from the Malay Archipelago, Java, Borneo, New Guinea, the Philippines, Moluccas, and has also been found in Australia (West Australia and New South Wales), Tasmania, and New Zealand. In America there are two Canadian records, one from Toronto and one from Nova Scotia; while in the Eastern States it has occurred in Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Long Island, and has been recorded from Grenada and Carriacou, Lesser Antilles, and also in Patagonia. In Alaska it has once been obtained at Point Barrow.
DISTRIBUTION
Breeding range.—The supposed instances of breeding in western Greenland are now discredited, and the only definitely known breeding places are in eastern Siberia, from the delta of the Yenesei to latitude 74° on the Taimyr Peninsula and northward, as well as on the Liakhof Isles and other islands of the New Siberian group.
Spring migration.—Dates: Rio de Oro (N. W. Africa), April 27; Gibraltar, April 24; Egypt, May 8; Barcelona and Santander, May; Malaga, May 9; Corsica, May 7, 8, and 16; Italy, April 1-June 5: Malta, May 7, 12, 13, 27; Greece, April 15, 28, but chiefly May; Corfu, passage lasts till end of May; Transylvania, May 29; Cyprus, May 20, 24; Lake Baikal, May; Allaliabad, May 17; Amoy, China, May 16; Archangel, June 18; Boganida River, May 27; arrives North Taimyr, June 4.