SPOTTED SAISDPIPEE. o 



warble of a little bird, which appeared to me entirely new, and Avhich proceeded 

 from a small thicket a short way off. Whilst crossing an intervening meadow, I 

 accidentally raised a Spotted Sandpiper from its nest, and having marked the 

 spot I hastened forwards ; but the shyness of the object of my pursuit rendered 

 all my efforts unavailing, and returning to the nest which I had just left, I 

 expected to find it still unoccupied ; but the Sandpiper had again resumed her 

 place, and left it with great reluctance on my near approach. The nest contained 

 four eggs, which I determined to remove on my return at night, and for the 

 purpose of preventing the bird sitting again upon them, I placed a number of 

 stones in a slanting position over the nest, and so close that it was impossible for 

 the bird to get into it. On my return in the evening, however, I observed the 

 little creature rise from beside the stones apparently in greater trepidation than 

 ever, and more anxious to draw me away by the exhibition of all those little arts 

 Avhich they practise for this purpose. On examining the spot I was very much 

 surprised to find that the poor thing had not only hollowed out a new nest, but 

 had actually succeeded in abstracting two eggs from the other nest. How the 

 bird had contrived to remove the eggs I cannot conceive, as the stones remained 

 unaltered. This attachment to its nest and eggs appeared to me more singular 

 as the bird had just commenced incubation, the eggs exhibiting very little 

 appearance of the young.' " 



Describing the habits of the Spotted Sandpiper Wilson writes * :— " This 

 very common species arrives in Pennsylvania about the twentieth of April, 

 making its first appearance along the shores of our large rivers, and, as the season 

 advances, tracing the courses of our creeks and streams towards the interior. 

 Along the rivers Schuylkill and Delaware, and their tributary waters, they are in 

 great abundance during the summer. This species is as remarkable for 

 perpetually wagging the tail, as some others are for nodding the head ; for 

 whether running on the ground, or on the fences, along the rails, or in the water, 

 this motion seems continual ; even the young, as soon as they are freed from the 

 shell, run about constantly wagging the tail. About the middle of May they 

 resort to the adjoining cornfields to breed, where I have frequently found and 

 examined their nests. One of these now before me, and which was built at the 

 root of a hill of Indian corn, on high ground, is composed wholly of short pieces 

 of dry straw. The eggs are foiu", of a pale clay or cream color, marked with large 

 irregular spots of black, and more thinly with others of a paler tint. They are 

 large in proportion to the size of the bird, measuring an inch and a quarter in 



* ' American Ornithology ' (1813), vol. vii. pp. 60, 61. 



