132 TWENTIETH CENTUKY CLASSICS 



at Coatapec, Mexico, a j)air came daily to feed and dress 

 up their feathers beside a little run or gutter in the center 

 of the narrow paved street opposite my room in the hotel, 

 regardless of the people on the sidewalks, only running or 

 dodging to avoid a person crossing, or to keep out of the 

 way of the pack mules, etc., that are almost continually 

 passing; and it is not uncommon for the birds to alight 

 upon our streets and within our dooryards. Upon the 

 ground they run swiftly, but with too stiif legs to be 

 graceful, often squatting to rest or hide. 



The parent birds both assist in hatching and raising 

 the young, and are very solicitous and demonstrative in 

 their efforts to protect them ; and, in doing so, beautifully 

 display, with quivering wdngs and fan-spread tail, their 

 varied colors. Upon the wing they are swift and easy, and 

 at all times make known their approach and presence in 

 a vociferous manner. Their food consists chiefly of insect 

 life. 



Their nests are placed on the dry ground, in a small 

 depression, usually beneath a bunch of grass or weeds, in 

 the vicinity of streams and pools of water, lined sparingly 

 with bits of old grass or weeds, chiefly about the edg^s. 

 Eggs usually four, 1.45x1.05 ; buff to drab white, spotted 

 and blotched with umber and blackish brown; thickest 

 about larger end; pyriform in shape, very obtuse at 

 larger end and sharply pointed at the other. 



XLIV.— SPOTTED SxV:NtDPIPEE. 



Actitis macularia (Lixx.). 

 Summer resident; common; in migration, abundant. 

 Arrive the middle of April to first of May ; begin laying 

 about the middle of May; a few remain into ;N"ovember. 



