BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



333 



forgotten sounds in nature." [Langille] The same writer gives its alarm 

 note as a rapid qiiip-ip-ip-ip, qttip-ip-ip-ip, and the song as chr-r-r-r-r- 

 ee-e-e-e-e-e-oo-o-o-o-o-oo. Will Richard, in describing a pair near Rouse 

 Point, N. Y., states that the>- are called "Wet-weather" birds by the 

 people of that locality from one of the calls which the bird utters, and 

 writes the song as follows: ivh-o-c-e-et-ct-c-e-e-c-c-c-o-o-o-ooo. This is a 

 good rendition of the weird whistle described by Langille, as I have 

 heard it in western New York, the notes rapidly rising and swelling, 

 then slowly falling and dying away into a hollow windlike whistle, very 

 much like the literation of Mr Richard's description. This love song of 

 the Upland plover, and the winnowing of the Snipe, and the flight song of 

 the '\^''oodcock are three of the most interesting sounds of our bird life, and 

 belong to the three most highly prized game birds of the order Limicolae, 

 all three of which fortunately breed within our limits, and should be pro- 

 tected in every possible manner from the extermination which has over- 

 taken our Wild turkey, Heath hen, and Wild pigeon. 



The food of the Bartramian sandpiper consists largely of grasshoppers, 

 crickets, beetles and other insects, occasionally varied with seeds or small 

 fruits. The young follow their parents as soon as hatched, and the old 

 birds evince considerable distress when the young are molested, often 

 fluttering along the ground, feigning lameness, or a broken wing, after 

 the manner of a Kill deer, to draw the intruder away from the site. Their 

 carriage is light and graceful, the\' run with great swiftness through the 

 rows of stubble to escape from intrusion, or crouch motionless in the grass 

 tmtil the enemy is dangerously near, when they spring into the air and 

 fly swiftly away, often passing entirely out of sight before alighting, but 

 uttering a mellow whistle as they go, evidenth' to inform the members of 

 their clan that the enemy is near. 



The Bartramian sandpiper conceals its nest in the thick grass of the 

 meadow, or under a tussock in the pasture or a waste field, and is rarel>' 

 or never seen in its vicinitv, and will not leave it until she is almost trod 

 upon. Mr Short told me of finding a nest while plowing a field, which the 



