Page:Auk Volume 37-1920.djvu/148

 fAuk 78 Farley, Sandpipers at Plymouth, Mass. [j^ n SANDPIPERS WINTERING AT PLYMOUTH, MASSA- CHUSETTS. BY J. A. FARLEY. The wintering of the hardy Sanderling and the Red-backed Sandpiper was an interesting event in 1917 on Plymouth Beach. We fail to find in a hasty search through the literature other records of the wintering of these two species north of Cape Cod. The winter of 1916-17 was an average one. It was not an open winter; nor was it very severe like the following very bitter season of 1917- 18. The weather conditions from week to week through this winter were noted with some care because of their intimate relation to the daily lives of the sandpipers during the same period. Through the fall of 1916 Sanderlings were on Plymouth Beach as usual and my last note (November 26) reads: "Saw a half- dozen Sanderlings — one poor little fellow was bobbing along less speedily on one leg — only the upper half (i. e., above the heel) of the other leg was left. It was hanging down. Saw one or two Sanderlings that sat down by a bunch of drift as if to rest. There were some Snow Buntings on the beach with the Sanderlings. The day was sunny but quite cold and blowy." I was not on Plymouth Beach again until January 14, 1917. On the morning of the 12th the temperature ranged from just below zero to 2° above. By evening of the 12th it was 12° above. On the 13th there was a rising temperature and by night it was above freezing and there was rain. It was warmer on the morning of the 14th. " The southeast rain last night and this forenoon has taken off most of the snow. The wind blew heavily, — especially at noon when it rained very hard. In the afternoon there was clearing weather." I was on the beach between 1 and 2 P. M. and found, as I expected, some Sanderlings. There were at least three. They were at their favorite spot where the water shoals a good deal on the outside and sandspits make out which are exposed when the tide recedes. Other accompaniments to the mid-January scene were a lot of quite tame Black Ducks in the Inner Harbor ready to