THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 133 



isli reflections, eacli feather marked with waving spots of 

 hlack; long wing feathers, dark hi'own, the middle one 

 with white tips; tail, rounded, the outer featheis mostly 

 white, the others olive brown, all barred with black; 

 whole lower parts, marked with round spots of black, 

 smaller and thicker on the tliroat and breast, larger and 

 thinner as they descend to the tail; legs, a yellow clay 

 color; claws, black. The female is as thickly spotted be- 

 low as the male, but the young birds of both sexes are 

 white below, slightly suffused with gray on the breast, 

 but they are also barred across with narrow buff lines 

 above in addition to the black bars. 



The nest is situated in open spots near the borders of 

 streams and ponds and in fields among the stubble; it is 

 built of straws and grasses. The eggs are generally four 

 in nundoer, of a creamy buff or light drab, with brown 

 spots becoming larger and confluent at the larger end, 

 one and one-fourth by one inch in size. 



The birds breed throughout the whole of North America, 

 arriving in New Jersey from the south about the end of 

 April and leaving abcjut the first of October. They are 

 very numerous throughout the state and their comical 

 antics afford a great deal of amusement to i)ersons watch- 

 ing them along the sliores of fresh water streams and 

 })onds. 



Their food is insects and larvae. 



Sail tip ifK>t% II '/i#7f'-*'##iMi>Cfl.— Length, seven and a 

 hall inches; extent, thirteen inches; bill, one inch, green- 

 ish black: above, ashy blown, feathers broadly centered 

 with hlack and somewhat edged with rusty; rump, Avhite; 

 tail, blackish blown : wings, slaty brown; below, including 

 sides of head .ind neck, white, spotted with black or dark 

 brown as far as the t'oicbelly ;ind sidi^s; belly, white; legs 

 and ft^et, greeiiisli hlack. In winter the u[)|)er parts are 

 a l)rownish gray and the markings generally less distinct. 



The nest is a (l(^i)ression in the ground, lined with 



