The Spotted Sandpiper 



289 



by placing small sticks across the top of the nest. On her return, no attempt 

 was made to remove them with her bill but they were pushed aside with her 

 breast when she settled on the eggs. 



I wished to get a picture of the old bird standing on a boulder, and, as she 

 occasionally went to one several feet away, I covered up the nest completely 

 so that she would not find anything to sit on, and focused my camera on the 

 boulder. 



A flat stone was next placed over the nest, completely covering it and hid- 

 ing it from sight. The female returned, as before, and, without hesitating, sat 



THE SANDPIPER'S HOME 



down on the stone. Then, not feeling the eggs under her, she got up and began 

 hunting around for the nest. She made several turns around the nesting-site, 

 always ending at the flat stone, and not finding the eggs, started the search 

 anew. All the grass clumps within a radius of si.\ or seven feet were searched. 

 She tried incubating on the stone a few times but always got o(T after a moment. 

 An interesting thing to note is that the female Sandpiper knew the e.xact spot 

 where her nest ought to be, even though she could not see a trace of it. 

 The stone was then removed from the nest, and when the bird came back 

 again, she sat on the eggs as if nothing at all had happened. The male never 

 came near the nest, although the female did a lot of e.xcited peeping. No 

 opportunity was presented to visit the nest again. 



