SNIPES, SANDPIPERS 179 



Four eggs found June 6, 1884 in a nest under a small bush 

 measure 1.86 x 1.29, 1.82 x 1.34, 1.86 x 1.30, 1.90 x 1.30. 

 When they have young or when the female has time to sneak 

 unobserved away it is rather difficult to locate the nest or the 

 offspring. The birds keep up a constant "quitty-quit-it-it" 

 and use every endeavor to attract attention to them alone. 



In late summer little family groups of five to seven birds 

 may be found feeding in the various fields, and seemingly real- 

 izing that the hunting season is at hand they are now very wary. 

 Practically the only way to shoot them is to have one person 

 hide and another flush the birds from the opposite side, giving 

 the concealed person a shot as they fly over him. They utter 

 the peculiar jerky call of alarm which is but little different 

 from the spring alarm note. They also utter a still different 

 modification of this same call at times when flying overhead in 

 migration, and on many a pleasant autumn evening have I 

 heard "quitty-quit" floating down from overhead as I stood 

 in my garden and thought as the mellowed tones reached me 

 that the "Plovers" were going southward. 



It seems highly probable that the species in question is one 

 of the most beneficial birds we have. They frequent uplands 

 and fields and feed almost entirely on grasshoppers and crickets 

 in late summer, consuming millions of them. They also eat 

 various other species of insects and larvae. 



Genus TRYNGITES Cabanis. 



262. Tryngites suhrujicollis (Vieill.). Buff-breasted Sand- 

 piper. 



Plumage of adults : primaries fuscous, the inner half of their inner webs 

 speckled with black, a distinguishing mark of the species in all plumages ; 

 general color above pale grayish brown with darker centers to feathers of 

 the back; inner wing coverts marked with black and white; middle tail 

 feathers fuscous, the outer ones lighter, marked with black; below ochra- 

 ceous buff, tipped with whitish and with concealed darker markings. Imma- 

 ture plumage : feathers of back bordered with whitish ; breast paler. Wing 

 5.00 to 5.55 ; culmen 0.77 ; tarsus 1.20. 



