SOLITARY SANDPIPER {Hclodromas 

 solitarius) . As the name would imply, these 

 birds are not gregarious to any extent, rarely 

 more than a half dozen being found together 

 and usually individuals or pairs being met 

 about the edges of ponds or small lakes, 

 chiefly in wooded districts. They feed in 

 the muddy or mossy banks, or wade in the 

 shallow water, picking their food with grace- 

 ful motions, stopping every once in a while to 

 look about them and to teeter in a self-satis- 

 .jAtCy' W «' *• fled way. They are usually quite silent and 



! w5 <d*mkfy w1 ^ a U° w a close approach before they take 



wing and easily sail across to the other side 

 of the pond. They have, even more than 

 other species, the habit of elevating their 

 wings, showing the handsome markings on 

 the under sides, and then folding them care- 

 fully in place. Sometimes as they take flight 

 they utter a very clear, mellow whistle. 

 They average in length a little over 8 in. 



Solitary Sandpipers breed from northern 

 United States northward and winter in South 

 America. The present variety is found 

 chiefly east of the Great Plains, while to the 

 west is a very similar variety called Western 

 Solitary Sandpiper, which is very slightly 

 larger and which has brownish spotting on 

 the back instead of whitish, as in the eastern 

 form. The nesting of these birds remained 

 undiscovered for a long time and, while even 

 at the present date but few nests have been recorded, we know that they lay 

 their eggs in old nests of other birds, up to twenty feet above ground. Since 

 this is the habit of a similar European species, it is strange that the nest in 

 this country should have remained undiscovered until 1903. 



WILLET {Catoptrophorus scmipalmatus semipahnatiis). These large 

 shore birds, measuring about 16 in. in length, breed on our South Atlantic 

 coast and winter in South America, often wandering north to New England 

 after breeding. The Western Willet, which is very similar, occurs chiefly 

 west of the Mississippi River, but also on the Atlantic coast during migra- 

 tions. They are very noisy, their loud whistles sounding like pilly-will- 

 willet. 



SOLITARY SANDPIPER 

 WILLET 



38 



