56 



THE OOLOGIST 



The nest was in the tallest buck in the 

 center of the picture. 



Since assuring myself that the little 

 girl's Snipe's nest in a tree was that of 

 the Solitary Sandpiper, I have tried to 

 find out something about its breeding 

 habits in different bird books, but I 

 either did not have the right ones, or 

 very little seemed to be known about 

 them. The small pocket bird book 

 by Chester A. Reed seemed the only 

 one to give real, authentic information, 

 as it states they nest in old bird's 

 nests in trees. 



Oliver Davies mentions an egg taken 

 by him in Ohio, in 1877, but the identi- 

 fication seems far from certain, and 

 his description, "The egg was of a 

 pointed, oval shape and not nearly so 

 pyriform as are the eggs of most of 

 the family, size 1.25x.88, smaller than 

 the eggs of the Spotted Sandpiper. 

 The ground was clay color, with a 

 reddish tinge, thickly marked with 

 reddish and blackish brown," does not 

 coincide in any particular with the 

 eggs now in my collection. 



The other egg described, taken by 

 Mr. Richardson in Vermont, in 1878, 

 comes nearer, but still differs in size 

 and color. Its description, as given by 

 Davies, is as follows: "It measures 

 1.32X.90; the ground color is of light 

 drab, similar to that of Oxyechus 

 vociferus; over the surface are scat- 

 tered small round markings of brown; 

 some of these are quite dark; no- 

 where confluent, and not large enough 

 to be called blotches. Its shape was 

 elongated pyriform." In North Amer- 

 ica Shore Birds, l)y D. G. Elliot, the 

 measurement given is 1.37x.95 inches, 

 and it is stated the nest was on the 

 ground, and parent bird secured as 

 she left the nest. 



The eggs figured by Chester B. 

 Reed, in North American Birds' Eggs, 

 bears no resemblance to mine. It is 

 described as clay colored, spotted with 



brownish black; no measurements 

 given, and certainly would be a good 

 illustration of an egg of the Spotted 

 Sandpiper. Mr. Reed also mentions a 

 set of five eggs taken by Dr. C. K. 

 Clark, in Ontario, in 1898. All these 

 nests were on the ground, and in only 

 one instance was the parent bird se- 

 cured. 



There is little uniformity in either 

 color, shape, or measurements in the 

 foregoing descriptions, and I doubt if 

 any one of them were really eggs of 

 the Solitary Sandpiper. I will now 

 give a description of the eggs taken by 

 me, and then measurements, and the 

 reader can judge for himself. 



In the first place the eggs in my col- 

 lection have a distinct individuality 

 of their own; they can be picked out 

 at a glance from any of the other 

 waders' eggs found in this locality. 



They could not be mistaken for any 

 of the illustrations of waders' eggs 

 in Reed's Eggs of North American 

 Birds. They are remarkably large 

 for the size of the bird, and measure 

 1.44x1.00, 1.44x1.01, 1.40x1.00 and 1.47 

 X.98 inches, respectively. The shape 

 is elongated pyriform, and the ground 

 color greenish, with reddish brown 

 and amber spots, the first predominat- 

 ing, rather sparingly distributed from 

 the small end to past the bulge of the 

 egg, where they join into reddish- 

 brown blotches, shaded with black and 

 amber, and almost obscure the ground 

 color on the blunt top. 



Since writing the foregoing I have 

 acquired a copy of Canadian Birds, by 

 Macoun, and find therein, that Mr. 

 Walter Raine, of Toronto, has nine 

 sets of Solitary Sandpipers in his col- 

 lection, all taken from old nests of 

 other birds in trees. 



A. D. Henderson, 

 Belvedere, Alberta, Can. 



