Bartramian Sandpiper. 35 



BARTEAM.IAX SANDPIPER. 



Over our heads in our April and May rambles there 

 flies a gray, snipe-like bird, frequently uttering a long- 

 drawn whistle not much unlike the soughing of the wind 

 among the trees. Now he soars on expanded pinions, or, 

 after hovering on fluttering wings held out from the body, 

 he sails in a long, descending, elliptical arc and alights on 

 the ground. Again he soars upwara, and goes to a dis- 

 tant part of the field, where he is joined by his mate, who 

 soon sails whistling to another of their haunts. This 

 bird is no stranger to the farmer boy, for all through the 

 springtime jp^hile he plows and works, the " field plover" 

 soars and whistles, claiming the notice of all observers. 

 The bird is the Bartramian sandpiper, properly a tattler, 

 and does not belong to the family of plovers; but having 

 been thus styled by popular voice, he will without doubt 

 be known chiefly by his early-acquired title. His prefer- 

 ence for the open prairies, cultivated fields and meadows 

 has led him to forsake the sloughs and streamsides which 

 he was intended to frequent; for he is classed with a 

 group of birds which by nature are frequenters of the 

 shores of inland lakes, ponds, and the banks of rivers, 

 and have the toes partly webbed to facilitate their move- 

 ments along the edge of the water. The Bartramian 

 sandpiper seems perfectly at home in the meadow, and we 

 admire the slender figure of this upland creature as he 

 runs ahead of us over the bare areas or appears with head 

 erect after threading his way rapidly through the grass 

 which momentarily hides him from view. Standing on a 

 bare spot in the lower parts of the meadow, the bird is 

 somewhat difficult to discover, for the gray plumage of 

 its back, grading into white on the lower parts, bears a 

 general resemblance to the surroundings, and renders the 

 bird nearly safe from observation except when it raises 

 its head and slender neck to watch our movements. 



In the "Key to North American Birds" Dr. Coues 

 gives the habitat of the species as " North America at 

 large ; rare west of the Rocky Mountains, in profusion 

 on the prairies of the interior, and common eastward ; 



