194 FEATHERED GAME 



his darting flight to a safe distance, alighting on 

 some large stone, flirting his tail, balancing on 

 tip-toe and bobbing his head, never for a second 

 standing still or ceasing his endless dance. 



He is a brilliant conversationalist, (a trait 

 common to most of his family), and is ready 

 and willing to prove it, evidently feeling that he 

 must make amends for his small size by being 

 the noisiest member of his tribe. If suddenly 

 driven to flight he makes the air resound with 

 his sharp ''Peet-Weet!"— ^^Peet-Weet!" and 

 when he has alighted again he quavers out a 

 long, tremulous ' ^ W-e-e-e-e-t ! " 



The Spotted Sandpiper arrives in New Eng- 

 land from his winter quarters in the Southern 

 States, Mexico, or the Tropics, in May and sets 

 up housekeeping soon after. He seems more 

 accustomed to civilization than any other of 

 the shorebirds and fears less the neighborhood 

 of man. Probably the reason lies in the fact 

 that the gunner seldom troubles him because 

 of his small size and also because, since they do 

 not gather into flocks as do the other sandpip- 

 ers and smaller shorebirds, he can get but one 

 at a shot, thus he thinks it a small return for 

 his outlay of ammunition. With this freedom 



