SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



24S 



The Lesser Yellow-legs foniierl\- was one of 

 the most numerous of all the shore birds of 

 North America, and still holds its numbers bet- 

 ter than many other species. 



No longer ago than 1S70 the flocks were quite 

 numerous about some of the inland ponds and 

 lakes in Massachusetts in August, particularly 

 in dry seasons, when the ponds were low. I re- 

 member that they were always watchful, but they 

 were readily attracted by a whittled imitation 



of their call, and if eyen one was shot out of 

 the flock the others hovered about until many 

 had paid the |)enalty of their sympathetic con- 

 cern. Of late years at those same ponds, a single 

 bird or a pair is seen occasionally, but the flocks 

 are gone, perhaps never to return. lis habits 

 are similar to those of the ( Ireater Yellow-legs, 

 and it feeds largely on insects, including ants. 

 Edw.\rd Howe Forbusii, in Game Birds, 

 ]\'ild-I' owl and Slu/rc Birds. 



SOLITARY SANDPIPER 



Helodromas solitarius solitarius ( IJ'ilson) 



\. O V. Xumber 256 See Color Pl.ite ii. 



Other Names. — Green Sandpiper ; .-VniLTican Green 

 Sandpiper; Wood Sandpiper; American Wood Sand- 

 piper ; Solitary Tattler. 



General Description. — Length, o inclies. Color 

 above, dark olive-brown, speckled with white ; below, 

 white with dark spots on breast and neck ; the barred 

 tail-feathers are very conspicuous in flight. Bill, slender, 

 straight, and longer than head. Seldom found else- 

 where than near inland lakes and woodland streams. 



Color. — .l/j()7v. dark gli>ssy ollz'e-brozcn streaked 

 with whitish on head and neck, elsewhere finely speckled 

 with white; upper tail-coverts, whitish, heavily s[)Otted 

 with color of back; middle tail-feathers, brownish- 



olive, remainder, lehile. barred icith ? or .f hands of 

 olive-dusky : beloze, zohite: breast an<l sides of neck, 

 shaded with brownish, streaked and spotted with dusky; 

 sides, with some bars of dusky; bill, dusky-greenish; 

 legs, dull greenish ; iris, brown, rarely white. 



Distribution. — North and South America ; summers 

 from central Keewatin, northern Ungava, and New- 

 foundland south to Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, 

 and Pennsylvania; probably breeds regularly in the 

 northern part of its range, locally and casually in the 

 southern part ; winters from the West Indies to Argen- 

 tina ; recorded from Greenland, Bermuda, and Great 

 Britain. 



That dark and dainty sprite, the Solitary Sand- 

 piper, is almost the only Sandpiper of the 

 wooded wilderness. It is a bird of mountain, 

 forest, hill, and plain, but is rarcl\-, if ever, seen 

 on the sandy beaches of the sea, where other 

 Sandpipers play. It is not so solitary as its name 

 would imply but it frequents solitary places 

 where other Sandpipers seldom or never aj)pear. 

 It is seen singly or in small scattered companies 

 of a few individuals about mountain lakes or 

 .streams, near little ponds, ditches, or muddy, 

 stagnant jjooIs, almost anywhere throughciut its 

 range, and even occasionally on tidal streams 

 and in salt marshes. At times it frequents the 

 same feeding ground with Yellow-legs or Spotted 

 Sandpipers, but may be distinguished from the 

 former by its much smaller size and dark legs 

 and from the latter by the great quantity of 

 white on its spread tail and its darker upper 

 parts. Its notes, pccl-wcct. pcct-Tccct, are very 

 similar to those of the Spotted .Sandpii)er and it 

 has the same habit of nodding or bowing its head 

 but its hinder parts are not quite as active and 

 expressive as are those of its spotted congener. 



There is some uncertainty about our knowl- 

 edge of the breeding habits of this bird. It has 

 been reported as nesting on high mountain-^, on 

 the ground, in the nests of other birds, and in 

 hollow trees, all of which may be true, but at 

 the present time we have little reliable data re- 

 garding its home life. In the lireeding season 

 it is seen singly or more rarely in pairs and then 

 it is known to alight upon the tree-tops and to 

 emit a rather weak and ineffective flight song. 

 It is graceful and elegant, moves lightly and easily 

 and flies swiftly and often u ildlw erratically, and 

 high in the air like a Snipe. When the ponds 

 and lakes are low during a long drought in Au- 

 gust or September, the Solitary Sandpiper may 

 be seen along the exposed mud flats and sand- 

 bars, often going into the water up to its belly. 

 In the autumn it has a habit of wading in stag- 

 nant ditches and stirring up the bottom by ad- 

 vancing one foot and shaking it rapidly. This is 

 done so delicately that it does not roil the water, 

 but it starts from their hiding places the minute 

 organisms that lie concealed there, and the bird, 

 plunging in its bill and head, often clear to the 



