The Spotted Sandpiper 203 



and had green legs instead of yellowish ones; they were also quieter in 

 voice and manner than the latter. 



During the last half of May at Chautauqua we are likely to happen 

 on early nests of the Spotted Sandpiper. The site most likely to be se- 

 lected by this bird is under a bunch of weeds, or in the shelter of coarse 

 grass, a few yards or rods back from the shore of a 

 pond or stream ; but often the chosen spot will be in 

 a moist pasture, or even in a field of potatoes or 

 corn. Time and again I have found nests on islands, both in lakes 

 and in the ocean, sometimes a dozen or twenty on one islet. 



Some nests are concealed very carefully, amid thick foliage, while 

 others are merely in the shade of some straggling weed. The best con- 

 cealment for the eggs is afforded by the demure little brownish mother- 

 bird whose plumage blends perfectly with the color of the ground as she 

 sits motionless upon her treasure; but let one walk too close, and away 

 she goes, uttering her shrill pect-u'eet alarm. Then the secret is out, and 

 the trespasser may examine the four eggs, large for the size of the bird, 

 whose creamy-white background is plentifully sprinkled with dark brown 

 spots, especially at the larger end. 



One day, early in June, my wife and son were following an over- 

 grown cart-path, just in from the bank of the river, when they flushed 

 one of these Sandpipers from a nest with four eggs situated under a 

 small clump of weeds. Close to it was a pile of slag _. 



, , Photographing 



and rock, dumped from an old foundry many years a Sandpiper 

 before. It seemed to me, when I examined it, an 

 ideal place to secure photographs of the bird on her nest. 



So I piled slag and weed over the camera, and, connecting a'thread 

 with the shutter, I hid myself behind a thicket of bushes some fifteen 

 yards off. In a few moments the little Sandpiper appeared, trotting about 

 and jerking her body, I thought, even more nervously than usual. She 

 hesitated for some minutes till she felt assured that I had gone. Then 

 she walked straight to her nest, going within a foot or two of the camera, 

 which she failed to notice at all, so well was it concealed. When she 

 reached the eggs she settled over them at once, bristling her feathers and 

 pushing her treasures with bill and wings this way and that till everything 

 was arranged to her satisfaction. Then came my chance, and I pulled 

 the thread gently, taking her picture. Even the 



slight click of the shutter sent her off in a hurry, but Sandpipers 

 she came back several times for me, and then I left 

 her in peace. She safely brought off her young, and afterwards I 

 met them scurrying along the margin of the river. 



As with all baby shore-birds, the young Spotted Sandpipers are 

 quaint and amusing. They look like tufts of cotton stuck up on tooth- 

 picks as they race over the sand, attempting to escape when discovered. 

 First, though, when a stranger approaches, they squat flat on the shore, 

 or hide in the grass. The parents throw themselves on the ground before 



