THE SHORE BIRDS. 207 



north. Their breeding habits probably are much the 

 same, and what the birds do at such times and in 

 that region has best been described by Seebohm in 

 his classic little volumes, " Siberia in Europe" and 

 " Siberia in Asia." In the tundras he found the sand- 

 pipers nesting, and scattered through the pleasant 

 pages of these charming books we get glimpses of 

 the life of these birds, that, so far as we know them 

 at home, are visitors only. 



Many of these sand-pipers that are fairly common 

 to our sea-coast marshes are birds of the interior. 

 Dr. Warren records them as occurring at Erie Bay 

 in Pennsylvania, and in the far West many are very 

 abundant; much more so, indeed, than in our Eastern 

 districts. 



Of the inland species, the Spotted Sand-piper, known 

 so generally as the " Teeter-Tiltup," from its quaint 

 way of bobbing both head and tail as it walks, de- 

 serves especial mention. 



Wilson's account is as follows : 



" This very common species arrives in Pennsylvania about the twen- 

 tieth of April, making its first appearance along the shores of our 

 large rivers, and, as the season advances, tracing the courses of our 

 creeks and streams towards the interior. Along the rivers Schuylkill 

 and Delaware and their tributary waters they are in great abundance 

 during the summer. This species is as remarkable for perpetually 

 wagging the tail as some others are for nodding the head ; for whether 

 running on the ground, or on the fences, along the rails, or in the 

 water, this motion seems continual ; even the young, as soon as they 

 are freed from the shell, run about constantly wagging the tail. 

 About the middle of May they resort to the adioining cornfields to 

 breed." 



This sand-piper is the only one that ventures quite 



