434 THE SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 



begins to run, the passage from one kind of locomotion to 

 the other is so easy, one can scarcely see where flight ends 

 and running begins. 



It has, moreover, two distinctive habits of motion, which 

 may keep time with its notes, and really become a part of 

 the landscape of its haunts about lakes, ponds and streams. 

 The first, pertaining to its flight, is the tremulous vibration 

 of its long-pointed wings, curving downward after certain 

 regular strokes. The second is the perpendicular sweep- of 

 the tail and hinder part of the body, so rapid and constant 

 while the bird is alighted as to give it the common name, 

 Tip-up. Both these motions are exceedingly graceful, and 

 add greatly to the character and charm of this gentle, con- 

 fiding bird, the most common of all our Waders. The peculiar 

 note, and the motion while on the ground, are both assumed 

 by the young about as soon as they leave the shell. 



Arriving in this district, and in the Middle States gener- 

 ally, about the middle or twentieth of April, it is exceed- 

 ingly sprightly and musical on all our water-courses, retir-' 

 ing to the fields, late in May or early in June, for nidification. 

 The nest is on the ground, in any cultivated field or past- 

 ure, or about barren shores, generally near, but sometimes 

 rather remote from water, and ordinarily consists of a 

 loose arrangement of dried grasses or straw, but it seems to 

 increase in bulk and elaborateness of structure as the bird 

 extends northward. In Labrador, Audubon found these 

 nests " made of dry moss, raised to the height of from six 

 to nine inches, and well finished within with slender grasses 

 and feathers of the Eider Duck." In this locality they 

 are found, also, well sheltered beneath shelving rocks. As 

 its breeding habitat is so extensive, its time of nidification 

 varies with the locality. In Texas, Audubon saw the young 

 " well grown " by the fifth of May, while in Newfoundland 



