SOLITARY SANDPIPER 
256. Helodromas solitarius. 8.5 in. 
Above olive-grayish, streaked on the head and neck, 
and sharply speckled on the back and wings, with white; 
tail sharply barred with black and white; below white, 
streaked on the breast and barred on the sides with 
gray and white. In winter, with fewer white markings 
on the back. It is often confused with the Spotted 
Sandpiper that frequents the same places, but should ~ 
be easily identified when it flies by its barred tail and = 
linings of the wings. They have the habit, common to 
nearly all the shore birds, of elevating their wings after 
alighting, and then carefully folding “them on the back. 
Nest.—For a long time their eggs were unknown, but ¥ 
are now known to be laid in the nests of other land 
birds, at low elevations in trees or bushes near water. 
They have been found in Manitoba in a Waxwing’s nest. 
Eggs bluish-green with blackish-brown blotches. 
Range.—Breeds from Northern U. S. northward; 
winters south of the U.S. 
