4 SCOLOPACID.E. 



" Although these Tattlers are generally dispersed over the prairies during the 

 summer, yet they affect particular spots by preference. Away from the river 

 valleys, such spots are the numerous depressions of rolling prairie, often of great 

 extent, which are moist or even watery at some seasons, and where the vegetation 

 is most luxuriant. Here they gather almost into colonies. Riding into some 

 such spot in July, when the young birds are being led about by their parents, 

 some old bird more watchful than the rest, or nearest to the person approaching, 

 gives the alarm with a loud outcry, the young scatter and hide, and all the old 

 birds are soon on wing ; hovering in the air, often at a great height, crossing 

 each other's path, and ceaselessly vociferating their displeasure. I have often 

 seen a dozen or twenty overhead at once, all from a little spot only a few acres 

 in extent. Later in the season, when all the summer's broods are on ^ving, 

 they make up into flocks, often of great extent, and old and young together 

 assume the ordinary routine of their lives. They leave these northern regions 

 early. I saw none after the forepart of September." 



The late Ur. T. M. Brewer writes * : — "The usual call-note of the Upland 

 Plover, when undisturbed, especially during the breeding-season, is a prolonged 

 and peculiarly soft whistle. This is clear and resonant, and to those familiar with 

 it is readily distinguished from any other. The call-notes vary somewhat in their 

 character, and change as the season progresses, and may be heard during the 

 night when the young brood has appeared. These notes change yet more, and 

 become intensified signals of alarm, when the young are threatened by danger. 

 But under any and all circumstances these cries are peculiar to the species, and 

 are unlike those of any of its tribe. 



" In Pennsylvania the eggs are hatched out early in June ; and there, as 

 elsewhere, only a single brood is raised in one season. The nest is always placed 

 in an open situation ; but, notwithstanding this circumstance, it is not easily found 

 without the aid of a good dog trained for the purpose. In 1843, in company with 

 my friend Baird, I searched in vain an open ploughed field for the nest of a pair 

 we knew must be near. Its site was not found until after the young had gone — 

 only a few days after our first search — the empty egg-shells showing where in 

 the open field it was. The female must have kept closely to the nest, even when 

 we were near her, while her mate was doing his best to delude us. The young 

 are singularly beautiful little balls of soft down, a mottling of white, brown, and 

 black. They are cared for by their parents until nearly grown, and from the 

 shell instinctively hide themselves at the approach of danger. The eggs of this 



* 'Water Birds of North America,' vol. i. pp. 299, 300. 



