BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER 203 



the Upland Plover, The people of that country have 

 been paying it a good deal of attention of late ; they 

 have discovered that it is a charming bird, and at 

 the same time that during the last three or four 

 decades their gunners have almost extirpated it. 

 They fear that it is going the way of the Passenger 

 Pigeon, the Pinnated Grouse, the Carolina Parro- 

 keet, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and, I believe 

 we must now add, the Esquimo WhimbreL 



This species differs from its fellow-migrants of 

 the same family from the north to Argentina in its 

 wide and even distribution over all that portion of 

 the pampas where the native coarse grasses which 

 once covered the country have disappeared, an area 

 comprising not less than 50,000 square miles. It 

 begins to arrive as early as September, coming singly 

 or in small parties of three or four ; and, extra- 

 ordinary as the fact may seem when we consider the 

 long distance the bird travels, and the monotonous 

 nature of the level country it uses as a " feeding 

 area," it is probable that every bird returns to the 

 same spot year after year ; for in no other way could 

 such a distribution be maintained, and the birds 

 appear every summer evenly sprinkled over so 

 immense a surface. 



On the pampas the bird is called Chorlo solo, 

 on account of its solitary habit, but more com- 

 monly Batitu, an abbreviation of the Indian name 

 Mbatuitm. In disposition it is shy, and prefers 

 concealment to flight when approached, running 

 rapidly away through the long grass or thistles, or 



