BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. 155- 



Genus BARTRAMIA Lesson. 

 BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA (Bechst.). 



113. Bartramian Sandpiper. (261) 



Above, lilackish, with a slight greenish reflection, vai-iegated with tawny 

 and whitish ; below, pale tawny of varying shade, bleaching on throat and 

 belly; juguluni with streaks, breast and sides with arrowheads and bars of 

 blackish; axillars and lining of wings, pure white, black-barred; quills blackish, 

 with white bars on the inner webs ; tail, varied with tawny, black and white, 

 chiefly in bars; bill and legs, pale, former black-tipped. Length, 11-13 inches; 

 wing, 6-7; tail, 3-4; bill, 1-1^; middle toe and claw about the same; tarsus, 

 about 2. 



Hab. — Eastern Nortli America, north to Nova Scotia and Alaska, breeding 

 thi-oughout its Nortli American i-ange, migrating in winter southward as far 

 even as southern Soutli America. Occasional in Europe. 



Nest, on the groimd, a slight depression lined with grass often in an old 

 pasture held. 



Eggs, four, clay color, marked all over with small spots of umber-brown, 

 most numerous at the larger en<l. 



The Field Plover, as this species is frequently called, is now very 

 seldom seen in Ontario, though the older sportsmen tell us that in 

 former times it was often observed in the pasture fields in spring 

 and fall. The few that I have noticed near Hamilton have always 

 been in such places, but these can only be regarded as stragglers, 

 bewildered by fog, or driven by adverse winds away from their 

 regular habitat. In all the country between the Mississippi and the 

 Rocky Mountains, this species is said to be exceedingly abundant 

 during the seasons of migration, many remaining to raise their young 

 in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota, while lai'ge flocks pass on 

 for the same purpose, going as far north as the Yukon. According 

 to Prof. Macoun, they are abundant on the prairies of the North- 

 West, where they will afford good sport and a table delicacy to many 

 a future settler in that promising country. 



The only point in Southern Ontario at which I have heard of 

 these birds being seen lately is on the Lake Erie shore not far from 

 Dunnville, where Dr. Macallum is aware of at least two pairs having 

 raised their broods during the two past summers. They have also 

 been heard of on the lake shore farther west, but the increased 

 cultivation of the land, and the increased number of people firing 

 their guns at them, lead such birds to seek for greater retirement 

 elsewhere. 



