242 SCOLOPACID^ : SNIPE, ETC. 



have any senses for the feathered life of our fields. 

 Like the bowing and nodding of the Solitary Sand- 

 pipers, are the still more curious actions of the Spotted 

 Sandpipers, thus described by Coues : " a queer balanc- 

 ing of the body upon the legs, constituting an amuse- 

 ment of which these last-named* birds are extremely fond. 

 As often as the Tip-up, or 'Teeter-tail,' as it is also 

 called, stops in its pursuit of insects, the fore part of the 

 body is lowered a little, the head drawn in, the legs 

 slightly bent, whilst the hinder parts and tail are alter- 

 nately hoisted with a peculiar jerk, and drawn down 

 again, with the regularity of clock-work. The move- 

 ment is more conspicuous in the upward than in the 

 downward part of the performance ; as if the tail were 

 spring-hinged, in constant danger of flying up, and 

 needing constant presence of mind to keep it down. It 

 is amusing to see an old male in the breeding season busy 

 with this operation. Upon some rock jutting out of the 

 water he stands, swelling with amorous pride and self- 

 sufficiency, pufHng out his plumage till he looks twice as 

 big as natural, facing about on his narrow pedestal, and 

 bowing with his hinder parts to all points of the com- 

 pass. A sensitive and fastidious person might see 

 something derisive, if not actually insulting, in this, and 

 feel as Crusoe may be presumed to have felt when the 

 savages who attacked his ship in canoes showed the 

 signs of contumacious scorn that De Foe records. 

 But it would not be worth while to feel offended, since 

 this is only the entirely original and peculiar way the 

 Tip-up has of conducting his courtships. Ornitholo- 

 gists are not agreed upon the useful purpose subserved 

 in this way, and have as yet failed to account for the 

 extraordinary performance." 



