546 



SCOLOPACID.E. 



The Spotted Sandpiper is a common bird in the United 

 States,* where, however, it is only a summer visiter, going 

 southward in October. During the breeding season it in- 

 habits the banks of rivers and lakes, where its actions, habits 

 and food, are observed to accord so closely with those of our 

 Common Sandpiper in this country, as to make quotation 

 from American authorities unnecessary. One extract from 

 Mr. Audubon's Ornithological Biography I hope to be ex- 

 cused from copying, because it refers to a power possessed by 

 birds, which has been doubted ; that of being able to move 

 their eggs when danger threatens. " My esteemed friend 

 Thomas Macculloch of Pictou, Nova Scotia, having trans- 

 mitted to me a curious account of the attachment of one of 

 these birds to her eggs, I here insert it with pleasure. Being 

 on an excursion to the Hardwood Heights, which rise to the 

 west of Pictou, my attention was attracted by the warble of 

 a little bird, which appeared to me entirely new, and which 

 proceeded from a small thicket a short way off. Whilst 

 crossing an intervening meadow, I accidentally raised a Spot- 

 ted Sandpiper from its nest, and having marked the spot I 

 hastened forwards ; but the shyness of the object of my pur- 

 suit rendered all my efforts unavailing, and returning to the 

 nest I had just left, I expected to find it still unoccupied ; 

 but the Sandpiper had again resumed her place, and left it 

 with great reluctance on jaiy near approach. The nest con- 

 tained four eggs, which I determined to remove on my return 

 at night, and for the purpose of preventing the bird sitting 

 again upon them, I placed a number of stones in a slanting 

 position over the nest, and so close that it was impossible for 

 the bird to get into it. On my return in the evening, how- 

 ever, I observed the little creature rise from beside the stones 

 apparently in greater trepidation than ever, and more anxious 



* Mr. Audubon says this species has a very extensive range ; from Labrador 

 even to Texas. 



