Bartramian Sandpiper. 39 



still in the down, the little creatures have a curiously 

 clumsy, top-heavy look ; their legs look disproportionately 

 large, like those of a young colt or calf; and they may be 

 caught with little difficulty, as they do not run very well. 

 I once happened upon a brood — perhaps two weeks old- 

 rambling with their mother over the prairie. She sounded 

 the alarm, to scatter her brood, but not before I had se- 

 cured one of them in my hand. I never saw a braver de- 

 fense attempted than was made by this strong-hearted 

 though powerless bird, who, after exhausting her artifices 

 to draw me in pursuit of herself, by tumbling about as if 

 desperately wounded, and lying panting with outstretched 

 wings on the grass, gave up hope of saving her young in 

 this way, and then almost attacked me, dashing close up, 

 and retreating again to renew her useless onslaught. She 

 was evidently incited to unusual courage by the sight of her 

 little one struggling in my hand. At this downy stage the 

 young birds are white below, finely mottled with black, 

 white, and rich brown above ; the feet and under mandible 

 are light colored ; the upper mandible is blackish." 



In this locality the young birds discover the same at- 

 tachment for their native meadow as the parent birds. 

 They spend most of their time on the ground, and do not 

 scatter far from one another, the entire family being 

 usually within easy call. When alarmed, the parent birds 

 take wing, while the young run among the grass tufts, 

 though they are able to fly well. A person not familiar 

 with the habits of these birds will wonder on seeing them 

 ahead of him, when they have not previously attracted 

 notice ; they seem to start up like sprites from the naeadow 

 grass. The young birds have a trick of biding behind the 

 tussocks, thus waiting for the near approach of the dis- 

 turber, and then flying for a distance, alighting to run and 

 skulk in the grass as before. Here they do not form 

 flocks, as we are told they do in the Northwest, where 

 they are found in such numbers. It is possible that the 

 residents of this section join the regular flocks when they 

 reach the routes of the heavy migrations, but here they 

 disappear as they came, in families and as individuals. 



Since these sandpipers spend so much of their time in 

 the fields, pastures, and meadows, their utility is un- 



