260 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Allied forms Tringa subarguata, already dealt with, and the species 

 in the present genus described in the following chapters. 



Habits. The habits of Bonaparte's Sandpiper very closely resemble those 

 of the Dunlin, although during the breeding season the bird is rather more of an 

 Arctic one. Its migrations are regular, and not only taken along the coast, but 

 inland down the great river valleys. It is equally as gregarious as the Dunlin, 

 indeed often flocks with that species as well as with other small Sandpipers. It 

 is described by American naturalists as being remarkably tame and trustful, and 

 runs about the rocky beaches in the presence of an observer with little show of 

 fear. Bonaparte's Sandpiper is a rather late bird of passage, even for an Arctic 

 species, passing along the coasts of the United States and up the valley of the 

 Mississippi during May, and reaching its breeding grounds towards the end of 

 that month or early in June. Odd birds make their appearance in the Northern 

 States near the end of July, but the majority pass southwards during September 

 and October. Its actions on the shore are very similar to those of the Dunlin. 

 The bird runs about the wet sands and muds, and over the weed-grown rocks in the 

 usual restless manner. Its flight is rapid, yet rather wavering, and it often wades 

 breast-deep into the water in its eager quest for food. The flocks often wheel 

 and gyrate in the air when disturbed. The note of Bonaparte's Sandpiper is said 

 by Coues to be a low, soft weet, unlike that of any of the bird's congeners. Its 

 food is said to consist of insects, worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and other small 

 marine animals, and during summer various ground fruits are eaten. 



Nidification. The breeding grounds of Bonaparte's Sandpiper are the 

 Arctic tundras in the immediate neighbourhood of the sea. But little has been 

 recorded of its habits during the nesting season. A nest discovered by Mac- 

 Farlane was merely a hollow in the ground, lined with a few dead leaves. The 

 eggs are four in number, and vary in ground-colour from olive to greyish-buff, 

 blotched and spotted with dark reddish-brown and pale brown, and with under- 

 lying markings of grey. They are pyriform in shape, and measure on an average 

 1'25 inch in length by '9 in breadth. It is said that one brood only is reared in 

 the year, and, like the Dunlin, as soon as the young are fledged they with 

 their parents begin to migrate slowly south. 



Diagnostic characters. Heteropygia, with the upper tail coverts white, 

 more or less streaked with brown, and the bill under one inch in length. Length, 

 7 inches. 



