SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 103 



has probed for earthworms with his long, sensitive bill, 

 the upper mandible of which, as Mr. Gordon Trumbull 

 has discovered, the bird can use as a finger. 



The Woodcock's nest is made of dried leaves, and the 

 four large, pear-shaped eggs are buif, spotted with shades 

 of reddish brown. The young are born covered with 

 rich chestnut and buff down, and can run as soon as 

 dry. 



As a songster the Woodcock is unique among our 

 summer birds. Ordinarily sedate and dignified, even 

 pompous in his demeanor, in the spring he falls a victim 

 to the passion which is accountable for so many strange 

 customs in the bird world. 



If some April evening you visit the Woodcock's 

 haunts at sunset, you may hear a loud, nasal note repeated 

 at short intervals — peent^ peent. It resembles the call of 

 a Nighthawk, l)ut is the Woodcock sounding the first 

 notes of his love song. lie is on the ground, and as you 

 listen, the call ceases and the bird springs from the ground 

 to mount skyward on whistling wings. He may rise 

 three hundred feet, then, after a second's pause, one hears 

 a twittering whistle and the bird shoots down steep 

 inclines earthward. Unless disturbed, he will probably 

 return to near the spot from which he started and at 

 once resume his peenting. This, with the twittering 

 note, is vocal ; the whistling sound, heard as the bird rises, 

 is produced by the rapid passage of air through its stif- 

 fened primaries. 



Our only other common summer resident Snipe is the 



Spotted Sandpiper. It frequents the shores of lakes, 



Spotted Sandpiper, ponds, and rivers, and is also found 



Actitis mncuiaria. near the sea, but wherever seen may be 



Plate XI. known by its singular tipping, teter- 



ing motion, which has given it the names of Tip-up and 



Teter Snipe. It is also called Peet-weet, from its sharp 



