THE SOLITARY SANDPIPER. 



523 



and slimmer build, as well as by the absence of spotting on the belly. IVcct, weet 

 note a little sharper than that of ./. mainland. 



Nesting.— Not known to breed in Ohio, but probably does so. Nest, on the 

 ground. Eggs, 4 or 5, faint dark reddish fading to light drab or clay color, 

 spotted, blotched, and scrawled with brown, and with faint purplish shell mark- 

 ings on the larger end. 1 Av. size, 1.39 x .95 (35.3 x 24.1). 



General Range. — North America, breeding occasionally in the northern 

 United States, more commonly northward, and migrating southward as far as the 

 Argentine Republic and Peru. 



Range in Ohio. — Common migrant; perhaps more generally distributed than 

 most of the family. Sparingly resident in summer. 



IT is neither because of excessive fear nor hauteur that birds of this 

 species are not often found mingling with others of the Sandpiper kind, but 

 only because they appreciate the beauty of woodsy pools and upland plashes, 

 which are lost on their more gregarious fellows. A Solitary Sandpiper is 

 most nearly comparable to the Spotted Sandpiper, but is larger, slimmer, 

 trimmer (if possible), with a voice a little higher-pitched and thinner. These 

 differences are easily made out if one is so fortunate as to see the birds together. 

 At a time when the distinctive points of this species were only beginning to 

 emerge in the consciousness of the student, I once came upon a Solitary Sand- 

 piper feeding at the edge of a brick-yard pond, in company with a single 

 Spotted and an equally solitary Pectoral Sandpiper. There were no other 

 shore birds of any species within a mile ; but these three were not above five 

 feet apart, having been led into a momentary association through some subtle 

 sense of kinship and recognition of common ends. When the observer had 

 conned well the lesson of comparative limicology there afforded, he put the 

 birds to flight. They fled three ways with characteristic cries and never an 

 afterthought, apparently, for their chance acquaintances. 



If one happens upon half a dozen of these birds feeding beside a leaf-lined 

 pool in the depths of the woods, he may see not only a beautiful sight, but 

 one out of the ordinary in Sandpiper experiences. The birds dart about 

 rapidly, capturing not only slugs, worms, and small crustaceans, but insects as 

 well. Indeed, the wings at times are carried about half-raised, as tho the 

 bird were on the very point of flight ; and quick sallies are made at passing 

 moths or beetles. If a decaying log lies half submerged, it is sure to be 

 inspected from every point of vantage ; and the bird is not averse to alighting, 

 on occasion, upon the limb of a convenient tree. Again, the bird plashes about 

 freely upon the floating vegetation, or wades breast deep, taking care, however, 

 that its dainty white bodice shall not be soiled. At other times, perhaps, 

 it moves with the sedateness of a Heron, putting each foot down carefully, so 

 as not to roil the water. 



1 See article by C. K. Clarke, M. D.. in The Auk for October. 1898. 



