62 BULLETIX 146, UXITED STATES XATIOXAL MUSEUM 



not for its flute like notes. Edwin Sandys (1904) has described this 

 verv well, as follows: 



This drifting flight is characteristic of the present species, and it usually 

 ends in a diving slant earthward, which is performed without any preceptible 

 motion of the wings. A few feet from the ground the long, beautiful, easy 

 descent is gently checked, and the bird alights as quietly as though it had 

 stooped only a yard or so instead of hundreds or thousands of feet. For a few 

 seconds after alighting the bird is apt to keep its wings considerably elevated 

 above its back, and the brief pose in this position is particularly attractive. 

 Then the airy fans are sedately furled. This pretty trick of keeping the wings 

 spread as if for a momentary study of how they should be correctly folded is 

 not peculiar to this species. Others of its near and remote kin go through the 

 same dainty evolution, although, perhaps, without the air of studied care 

 which is characteristic of Bartram's sandpiper. 



On its breeding grounds its flight is different again; it often flies 

 along slowly and evenly, at a low elevation. 15 or 20 feet above the 

 ground, on quickly vibrating wings, pouring out its liquid, rolling 

 trills or flute like notes, a delightful performance; or when flushed 

 from its nest it flies off close to the ground with short, rapid strokes 

 of its down-curved wings, as if using only its wing tips, suggesting 

 the flight of the spotted sandpiper. On a windy day it may occas- 

 sionally be seen to soar or hover on quivering wings like a small 

 falcon. 



On the ground its movements are ploverlike, running swiftly and 

 stopping suddenly. It runs gracefully through the grass with its 

 long neck stretched up to watch the pursuer ; or, crouching down, it 

 runs rapidly away and disappears in the grass. It alights frequently 

 on fences, telegraph poles, stumps, or rocks to watch the intruder and 

 scold at him. It is seldom seen near water, and I doubt if anyone has 

 ever seen it swimming. It is a gentle bird at all times and lives 

 harmoniously with its neighbors on its breeding grounds, but it does 

 not seem to associate with other species elsewhere. 



Voice. — The voice of the upland plover is one of its greatest 

 charms ; once heard in its perfection it will never be forgotten ; and it 

 often serves to identify the species when the bird can not be seen. 

 W. H. Hudson (1922) has referred to it very attractively, as follows: 



Lying awake in bed, I would listen by the hour to that sound coming to me 

 from the sky, meUowed and made beautiful by distance and the profound silence 

 of the moonlit world, until it acquired a fascination for me above all sounds on 

 earth, so that it lived ever after in me ; and the image of it is as vivid in my 

 mind at this moment as that of any bird call or cry, or any other striking sound 

 heard yesterday or but an hour ago. It was the sense of mystery it conveyed 

 which so attracted and impressed me — the mystery of that delicate, frail, beau- 

 tiful being, traveling in the sky, alone, day and night, crying aloud at intervals 

 as if moved by some powerful emotion, beating the air with its wings, its beak 

 pointing like the needle of the compass to the north, flying, speeding on its 

 7,000-mile flight to its nesting home in another hemisphere. 



