Spotted Sandpiper 127 



primaries dusky ; secondaries and their coverts white tipped, both 

 the former with white bars ; lateral tail-feathers with white ; stripe 

 over the eye and under-parts white, the latter with large rounded dusky 

 spots ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white with a brown bar across 

 the latter ; iris dark brown, bill waxy-yellow, black at the tip and 

 along the cubnen, logs oUve-grey, Length G-TH ; wing 4'1 ; tail 2-0 ; 

 culmen -95 ; tarsus -90. 



The male is sUghtly smaller, and the black spots not so ni^unerous ; 

 in winter the spots are absent and the breast is washed with grey, and 

 the back is less glossy. 



Distribution. — Breeding from Alaska and Labrador south over 

 the greater portion of the United States ; wintering in the southern 

 United States and south to Brazil. 



In Colorado the Spotted Sandpiper, with the exception of the Killdeer 

 Plover, is the commonest wader ; it ranges from the plains quite to 

 the timber line, wherever there is a small pool or stream suitable to its 

 wants, and nests everywhere though perhaps most abundantly at the 

 higher elevations. It arrives from the south at the end of April or the 

 first week in May and loaves again in September, though some remain 

 a good deal later into the cold weather. Breeding records are : Boulder 

 CO. 10,000 to 11,000 feet (Gale), Barr (Hersey & Rockwell), Brecken- 

 ridge (Carter), Montgomery (Allen), Salida, arriving May 5th and 

 breeding (Froy), Lily (Warren 08), Mesa co. (Rockwell), San Juan co. 

 (Drew), La Plata co., up to 13,000 feet (Morrison). 



Habits. — This Sandpiper is often known as the " Peet- 

 weet " from its note, or the " Teeter " or " Titups " 

 from its way of balancinj^ itself on its legs a,nd elevating 

 and depressing its tail with clockwork regularity ; it is 

 rather solitary in its habits, and more than two are seldom 

 found in one spot. Its flight is also rather striking, 

 the wings appearing to be turned downwards all the 

 time as it skims along the mud flat. 



The nest is placed on the ground in a slight depression 

 near a lake or stream ; it consists only of a few blades 

 of dry grass, slightly put together. The eggs, nearly 

 always four in number, are rather pointed in shape and 

 creamy or olive-drab in colour, spotted and blotched 

 with brown and purplish ; they average TSO x I'O. 

 Gale found fresh eggs between June 10th and 20th, 



