iqo2] Saunders Birds OF Sable Island, N.S. 27 



top of the hill, this time making no noise, but just sitting down to 

 wait and see what might happen. After some minutes I heard the 

 call of the plover, and soon located the male, standing still as be- 

 fore. In a short time the female came down the shore and lit near 

 by ; but so long as I remained in sight the birds would do nothing 

 but stand still for a long time, run a short distance, and then stand 

 again. However, I marked carefully the place where I first saw 

 the male and went down to it, took up his back track, and trailed 

 him to the nest, which contained four eggs, laid in the bare sand. 

 I found that on my search of the previous day I had passed within 

 six feet of the nest without seeing it, and during the night preced- 

 ing my success, a fox passed within ten or fifteen feet of the sitting 

 bird, but, fortunately for me, had not winded her. 



These eggs have a beautiful creamy buff ground, dotted with 

 small spots of black, and harmonize very well with the color of 

 the sand in which they are laid, as, indeed, does the color of the 

 bird itself, which is almost light enough to persuade one that a 

 running bird is a fleck of foam being blown along the beach. 



THE LEAST AND SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, 



These complete the list of the four waders that breed upon 

 the island At the time of Dr. Dwight's visit, the spotted sand- 

 piper was a very rare bird, only two pairs being reported from the 

 who'e island. At present it is quite common, and its numbers 

 approach quite closely to those of the least sandpiper. Its habits 

 are, of course, too well known to need any special mention, as 

 they do not differ on Sable Island from those of the bird so fami- 

 liar throughout Ontario. 



THE LEAST SANDPIPER. 



The least sandpiper, however, is a bird belonging to the far 

 north, and found in only two or three isolated localities south of 

 Labrador. I found them invariably in pairs, evidently mated, 

 often sitting so close together that two could be obtained at a 

 single shot if desired. But the very fact that two were always 

 seen together proved that they had not yet begun nesting, nor 

 did I see any sign of nest-building going on, although their pre- 

 sence was confined almost exclusively to the damp spots and 

 edges of small inland ponds, where they are said to breed. Their 



