THE BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER 



( Bartramia longicauda. ) 



The Bartramian Sandpipers are very 

 appropriately called the Upland Field or 

 Grass Plovers, for they are much more 

 at home in dry meadows, pastures, and 

 the open plains and prairies, than they 

 are near the shores of bodies of water. 

 Though they are true Sandpipers, their 

 habits are more like those of the plovers, 

 for they do not probe for their food but 

 gather it from the surface of or above 

 the ground. They feed extensively upon 

 insects, especially grasshoppers, and of 

 these they devour enormous numbers. 

 They also feed to some extent upon wild 

 seeds and fruits. The nature of their 

 food makes the Upland Plovers worthy 

 of the protection of man. Upon the prai 

 ries and in the meadows where they nest, 

 these birds must destroy millions of grass 

 hoppers and other insects. After the 

 breeding season has passed, they soon 

 become plump, and when broiled, their 

 flesh is very delicious. So closely do 

 the colors of their plumage resemble 

 those of dried grass that upon the prai 

 ries which they inhabit, it is frequently 

 difficult to distinguish them. Mr. Chap 

 man has well said : "One may ride over 

 a prairie upon which, at first glance, not 

 a Plover is visible, and find, after careful 

 scrutiny, that dozens of birds are scat 

 tered about him feeding." 



The Bartramian Sandpiper is a bird 

 of beautiful flight which is rapid and 

 regular. But this is not its only means 

 of protection, for it is also a rapid run 

 ner and always seems to know how to 

 hide in the grass. The plumage of its 

 back quite perfectly resembles that of 

 dried grass in color. . Its liquid notes 

 have a decided purity of tone. The notes 

 form a mellow whistle that may be heard 

 at a considerable distance. Mr. Langille 

 has described its notes in a most inter 

 esting manner. He says : Quip-ip-ip-ip, 

 quip-ip-ip-ip, spiritedly and rapidly ut 



tered, may represent the ordinary alarm 

 note of this species ; but when it alights 

 on the ground, on the fence, or even in a 

 tree, stretching or rather holding its 

 wings straight up for a few moments, 

 it utters a prolonged and peculiar note, 

 sounding like chr-r-r-r-r-ee-e-e-e-e-e-oo- 

 o-o-o-o-oo, the syllable ee being strongly 

 on the upward slide, and the syllable oo 

 in a marked falling inflection. This pro 

 longed, mournful, mellow whistle, 'more 

 like whistling of the wind than a bird's 

 voice,' may be heard even in the night, 

 and is one of the most weird and never- 

 to-be-forgotten sounds in nature." Nest 

 ing birds also utter, when suddenly dis 

 turbed, a very discordant scream which 

 can not well be expressed in letters or 

 syllables. 



The Bartramian Sandpipers nest quite 

 throughout their North American ran^e 

 where they are chiefly found, during the 

 summer season, chiefly east of the Rocky 

 Mountains and as far north as Nova 

 Scotia and Alaska. In the winter, how 

 ever, they migrate southward even as 

 far as Brazil and Peru. They are much 

 more abundant, at the present time, in 

 the western portion of their range. They 

 were formerly very common in the east 

 ern states, especially in New England. 

 There, however, they have been so tire 

 lessly hunted by men who think of noth 

 ing but their own desires, that they have 

 been nearly exterminated or driven to 

 less frequented fields in the west. They 

 are now much more abundant in the 

 great plains and areas watered by the 

 Missouri and other streams of the Miss 

 issippi region. They are usually seen in 

 small companies or brood groups, rather 

 than in gregarious swarms as are some of 

 the other sandpipers. They are like the 

 plovers, when in their feeding grounds, 

 silent, very watchful and quite shy when 

 they witness the approach of man. How- 



