282 Bird -Lore 



rows may be found, and a study of the call-notes of the migrating birds at 

 night is of great interest. At this season, too, the ponds are visited for the 

 freshwater Ducks, and Jamaica, Fresh, and Spy Ponds and the Chestnut Hill 

 Reservoir are eagerly scanned for Teal, Mallard, Black, Pintail, Red-head, 

 Baldpate, Ruddy and Wood Ducks, Coot, and Mergansers, and occasionally 

 even a Canvasback, Shoveller, or Ringneck is revealed. Even after the ponds 

 are mostly frozen over, some of the Ducks remain in the small open spaces 

 and may then be observed at very close range and even photographed. 



With the final freezing of these ponds the last of the migrants leave for the 

 south, and only the winter residents are left behind with which to begin another 

 year of bird-study. But each year brings new names to the list of birds and 

 new facts concerning the old familiar friends, and so the interest never wanes 

 though seasons change. 



Spotted Sandpiper Colonies 



By ]. W. LIPPINCOTT. Camden, N. J. 

 With a photograph by the Author 



THAT the Spotted Sandpiper sometimes associates with others of its 

 kind and may be found breeding in a restricted area, is an established 

 fact, but I believe, however, that this habit is the exception rather than 

 the rule with these birds. 



In the spring of 1913, I discovered Spotted Sandpipers nesting in colonies 

 in two widely different localities: one in the city limits of Camden, N. J., the 

 other in the wilds of Pike County, Pa. 



There lies in the city mentioned a piece of marshland, about 20 acres in extent, 

 which has defied the encroachments of the contractor and builder. Though sur- 

 rounded on all sides by city improvements, this low meadow probably presents 

 about the same appearance it did fifty years ago. A tidal ditch, an extensive 

 mud-flat, on which for some reason vegetation does not grow, and a slight 

 elevation, sparsely grown with weeds, and comparatively dry, are some of 

 the features which make it an ideal spot for the Spotted Sandpiper. 



A short time after the birds arrived this spring, they seemed to develop a 

 particular liking for the elevated portion of the marsh, and whenever this spot 

 was invaded, several Sandpipers flew up from the weeds and, with shrill pip- 

 ings, circled off to the flat. Suspecting that they were nesting, I made a careful 

 search of the surroundings, but failed to locate any nests until the last week in 

 May, at which time incubation had already commenced. 



After locating the first nest, I discovered three others within a week, and 

 later on two more. Five of the nests were located within a space of one- 

 fourth acre, placed among weeds of rather a scattered growth. The other 

 nest was built in a thick growth of short grass and was the best constructed 



