712 KEPOBT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Nest, a depression in ground, lined with grass. Eggs, 3-4; pale 

 grayish-buffy, varying to pale brownish, thickly spotted, speckled or 

 sprinkled with deep chestnut and dull purplish-gray; 1.15 by .83. 



Migrant; in spring not common. They pass northward through 

 May, when they are found in small flocks and return, some years, 

 about July 20; leave the last of August or early in September. In the 

 fall they are much more numerous, and in the vicinity of Lake Michi- 

 gan, are often common, being frequently found in company with Semi- 

 palmated Sandpipers. Mr. Nelson found it nesting in Cook County, 

 111. (Birds N. E. 111., p. 127). 



The earliest date at which it has been noted in this State is May 2, 

 1890, at Waterloo (Snyder). It was noted at Greencastle in 1891, May 

 4 (Hughes); in 1892, May 14, and last seen May 26; in 1895, May 11 

 (Earlle). Mr. H. K. Coale tells me one was shot on the shore of Lake 

 Michigan, in Lake County, Ind., by Mr. Geo. F. Clingman, June 1, 

 1879. Mud Lake, Cook County, 111., is a favorite feeding ground of 

 these birds, as in fact of all the Sandpipers and other small shore birds. 

 It may be used as a calendar for recording their arrival and departure. 

 Mr. J. 0. Dunn obtained three, there, from a flock of about twenty, 

 July 3, 1893, and he found them afterwards through July and August 

 at the same place. 



There Mr. Parker found the Least Sandpiper July 19, 1893, and 

 from that time until August 8th, they were noted. He found them 

 common August 15, 1887, and observed two at Cheltenham, September 

 6, 1889. It was found at Wolf Lake May 23 and 30, 1896 (Tallman). 

 Messrs. L. A. and C. D. Test obtained it at Hedley's Lake, near La- 

 fayette, September 6, 1894. One specimen was taken from a flock of 

 Solitary Sandpipers in Wabash County August 29, 1893 (Ulrey and 

 Wallace P. I. A. S., 1895, p. 150). I found one at Brookville August 

 28, 1897. 



These little Sandpipers and their companions are commonly called 

 in many localities, "Peeps." Nuttall says that "for the discovery of 

 their food their flexible and sensitive awl-like bills, are probed into 

 the mire, marshy soil or wet sand, in the manner of the snipe and 

 woodcock, and in this way they discover and rout from their hidden re- 

 treats, the larvae and the soft worms, which form a principal part of 

 their fare. At other times they also give chase to insects and pursue 

 their calling with amusing alacrity/' 



"Fogs hang low and heavy over rock-girdled Labrador. Angry 

 waves pallid with rage exhaust themselves to encroach upon the stern 

 shores, and baffled, sink back howling into the depths. Winds shriek 

 as they course from crag to crag in mad career, till the humble mosses 



