SOMERSET HILLS 55 



familiar sight, but strange to say, I 

 have never chanced to see a flock of 

 them. I have seen only one bird, in 

 December, 1909, at Ravine Lake. 



Spotted Sandpiper 



This Sandpiper (Plate 13, p. 105) is 

 commonly called ^^ Snipe," but the real 

 Snipe is a migrant, and a larger, darker 

 and rarer bird than the Spotted Sand- 

 piper. These Sandpipers ^' teeter," sin- 

 gly, or in pairs, along the banks of our 

 streams, but when any one approaches, 

 they fly swiftly away, uttering a queer 

 rattling note as they go. Their call 

 sounds to me like the piping of young 

 frogs in the spring. They were formerly 

 more common at Ravine Lake than they 

 are now. Occasionally I see other 

 species of Sandpipers there during mi- 

 gration. 



