82 BULLETIN 14 6^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



such places as these, it is by no means easy to find the nest, even when the 

 total area to be searched is only a few rods square. The task may well seem 

 hopeless if undertaken in the open farming country about the southern end of 

 the Lake, for, although spotted sandpipers breed here not uncommonly, they 

 are so widely and sparsely distributed over hilly pastures and fields of 

 considerable extent, that it is only by the merest chance that anybody ever 

 stumbles on a nest. The only one that I have happened upon was well hidden 

 in a tangle of withered grass and ferns, covering a steeply sloping bank by 

 the roadside. 



In incubation as well as in courtship the male has been shown to 

 assume duties which are usually ascribed to the female. The fol- 

 lowing quotation illustrates this fact. Van Eossem (1925) says: 



On July 11, in a boggy meadow near the water's edge, we found a nest 

 of four eggs which seemed nearly fresh. We often had occasion to pass this 

 nest, but there was never more than one bird present. On July 25 the eggs 

 had hatched and after a short search we found the downy young in the short 

 grass. They were collected with the parent, which proved to be the male. The 

 sides of his breast and belly were worn quite bare of feathers, showing that 

 he had done most of if not all of the incubating. The succeeding days, we 

 frequently passed the old nesting place, but never saw any other sandpiper in 

 the vicinity. On July 26 Alden Miller and the writer were on the headwaters 

 of the San Joaquin River, in Madera County [California], and while there 

 found a nest on a grass-grown gravel bar in the river. It contained young 

 which were just emerging from the shells. These were collected with the 

 parent which, as in the first case, was a male. We were at this nest and in 

 the immediate vicinity nearly an hour, but no other adult appeared. 



Although as a rule the spotted sandpiper does not build near the 

 nest of other birds of the same species, in exceptional cases many 

 pairs nest in close proximity to each other. 



L. McI. Terrill (1911), illustrating this gregarious habit, says: 



A few years ago a large colony were nesting on Isle Ronde (a small island 

 of a few acres, opposite the city of Montreal). Visiting this island on May 26, 

 1896, I located without difficulty 13 occupied nests. Again, on May 31, 1898, I 

 examined upward of 25. On each occasion only a small portion of the island 

 was examined, and I estimated that there were weU over 100 pairs breeding. 



Mousley (1916) points out that — 



It may not be generally known that these birds if flushed whilst construct- 

 ing their nest invariably desert it, at least this has been my experience on 

 four occasions, when I have flushed both birds whilst in the act of scooping 

 out or lining the hole. In one instance, however, they made a fresh nest 

 within 45 feet of the old one. 



Eggs. — [Author's note: The spotted sandpiper lays almost in- 

 variably 4 eggs, very rarely 5, and rarely only 3. These are 

 ovate in shape, less pyriform than the eggs of most waders, and 

 they have only a very slight gloss. The prevailing ground color is 

 " cartridge buff," with some variations to " pinkish buff," or " pale 

 olive buff." They are irregularly spotted or blotched, usually both ; 



