THE OOLOGIST 



123 



Bartram, but I had not gone twenty 

 yards the other side of the fence when 

 I was delighted by a Bartram who re- 

 mained upon her nest, until almost 

 touched. This nest was in a field of 

 timothy, and I could not see the nest 

 without stooping to part the foliage. 



Nineteen hundred and eight was a 

 cool, rainy spring. The flooded creeks 

 had driven the rails to the uplands, 

 where they were laying. I found an 

 unusually handsome nest containing 

 only three eggs of Rallus Elegans, but 

 each had a blotch on it the size of a 

 cherry. On my way to gather this 

 set, ten days later, I intuitively chang- 

 ed my course, and walked through a 

 meadow where I had never seen nor 

 heard an upland Plover. Two hun- 

 dred yards from my usual course, I 

 surprised a Quaily from four badly 

 soiled eggs. There was a faint peep- 

 ing from one of the eggs, which was 

 pipped. I examined the second which 

 appeared to be unusually light in 

 weight, ard I could hear the contents 

 shaking as I tilted the shell. The con- 

 tents of this egg was removed in about 

 half a minute, and I found the other 

 two eggs in the same condition I 

 thought this a peculiar incident to dis- 

 cover a nest with one egg hatched and 

 the other three eggs being unaddled, 

 but absolutely infertile. 



This last find gave me the most val- 

 uable key to the situation I conclud- 

 ed that the Barti'ftmian Sand i)ii)er 

 when incubating, was a very close 

 setter The males, while not in evi- 

 dence, were usually gleaning the sur- 

 face of a nearby pasture within call- 

 ing distance of the mate. Originally 

 I had been mislead because of the ex- 

 citement displayed by both birds. 

 These manoeuvers I found to be very 

 deceptive, because only when the 

 young have hatched do the i)arents 

 Sflly forth to meet an intruder, hov- 



ering overhead continually whistling 

 or "thrilling." 



This year I visited the vast stretch 

 ot ])asture and meadow lands I pre- 

 viously tramped periodically for six 

 years, and in a space of api)roximate- 

 ly two hundi-ed acres I noted six 

 liairs of Bartranis This was in May, 

 and they wei-e unquestionably about to 

 take up their summer homes in close 

 proximity. 



The following week found me in th^ 

 same environment but I noted only 

 one or two individual "Plovers." To 

 all appearances there was "nothing 

 doing." No thrilling, and but occa- 

 sionally did I hear the plaintiff whis- 

 tle. I had come upon three clutches, 

 and one brood of young in previous 

 seasons, and while each find was equi- 

 valent to many miles of tramping, tne 

 instances were vivid in my mind, so 

 I felt confident of another "royal 

 flush." 



It was about 3:30 p. m., and I cross- 

 ed ard recrcssed the pastures in so 

 many places, that it seemed as if I had 

 met myself several times. Plodding 

 on automatically. I stopi)ed two feet, 

 behind a Plover as she cackled 

 through the grass alternately limp- 

 ing and flying. I found the eggs to 

 be one-half incubated, which plainly . 

 indicated liow rear I must have come, 

 to this same bird the previous week, 

 when I tried to canvass the entire 

 field. Six days later 1 adoi)ted the 

 same tactics, automatically beating 

 back and forth through the same 

 fields. I startled a sitting Bartram 

 within fifty leet of the nest, which T 

 found the previous week, and the last 

 clutch was at least twelve days old. 

 which i)roved conclusively tliat I 

 must have been within a yard of this 

 bir 1 when I found the ether nest near 

 the cow i)ath. 



!, the adjoining field and adjacent 



