262 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



The Spotted Sandpiper is a common summer resident 

 of New England and Xew York, along the coast and also 

 along the margins of inland ponds and streams, arriving late 

 in April and staying till late in October. It is the only 

 bird with the long bill and legs of a sandpiper regularly 

 found on inland waters in June and early July, and, except 

 the Solitary Sandpiper, is at any season the only sandpiper 

 commonly seen on the margins of small inland ponds and 

 rivers. On the ground, its tail and the hinder part of its 

 body are repeatedly tipped upward ; when it flies, its long 

 narrow wings after a few strokes are held so as to form a 

 crescent, which swings first to one side and then to the 

 other close over the water. 



As it flies it utters a loud peep, peep, peep, or peet-weet, 

 a sound often heard in the gathering dusk from lake or 

 sea. At close range the spots on the under parts of the 

 adult can be readily made out, but at a distance they 

 hardly show, and in the young bird they are absent. The 

 white along the wing, however, is conspicuous in flight, 

 and helps to distinguish the Spotted from the Solitary 

 Sandpiper. The difference in the tail-feathers is described 

 under the Solitary Sandpiper (see p. 264.) 



Bartramian Sandpiper ; Upland Plover. Bartra- 



mia longicauda 



11.50. Bill 1.15 



Ad. — Upper parts a mixture of black and buffy-brown; outer 

 tail-feathers barred with white, black, and reddish-brown; tail 

 reaching considerably beyond the tips of the wings; breast and 

 sides buffy, streaked with black; belly white. 



Nest, a depression in the ground. Eggs, buff, or buffy-white, 

 speckled with dark brown or purplish, chiefly around the larger 

 end. 



The Upland Plover occurs as a migrant on the grassy 

 hills along the sea-shore in May, and again in August and 



