112 BRITISH BIRDS. 



breed very close together, so that when one pair is alarmed the others 

 soon join in the general clamour. The young are hatched late in June or 

 early in July, and when menaced by danger hide themselves by crouching 

 close to the ground. In the late summer, when the young broods are in 

 company with their parents, many birds may be found in a suitable part 

 of the prairie, and as the season advances the flocks become larger. They 

 are said to leave their breeding-grounds -early in autumn, and Coues saw 

 none in Northern Dakota after the beginning of September. The flight 

 of Bartram's Sandpiper is rapid and well sustained, and it is said that it 

 usually performs its migration at night. In the breeding- season, and 

 especially when the birds are about pairing, it perches on trees, stumps, 

 or posts, elevating its pointed wings and uttering its long-drawn note. 

 The ordinary note of Bartram's Sandpiper is a soft mellow whistle ; 

 besides this, Coues states that it has a prolonged cry, which sounds 

 more like the whistling of the wind than the voice of a bird, and which 

 is peculiar to the breeding-season : this note is often heard at night. 

 It has also another note, a harsh scream often repeated, which it utters 

 when disturbed at the nest. 



The food of Bartranr's Sandpiper is largely composed of insects, 

 especially grasshoppers, beetles, and crickets. This fare is varied by 

 worms, small snails, shoots of plants, and wild fruits, especially straw- 

 berries, and small berries and seeds of various kinds. In autumn the 

 birds are very fat ; indeed they are always in fair condition, and their flesh 

 is prized as an article of food. In winter they keep in large flocks, but 

 often associate in only small parties. 



Bartram's Sandpiper is a very peculiar bird. In size and general 

 appearance it closely resembles a Reeve ; but the quills and tail-feathers 

 are all more or less distinctly barred, slightly resembling those of the 

 Buff-breasted Sandpiper. In the adult in summer plumage of both sexes 

 the feathers of the lower back and rump are uniform dark brown, those of 

 the head, neck, upper back, and scapulars brown, margined with buff; 

 whilst the wing-coverts, innermost secondaries, upper tail-coverts, and 

 tail-feathers are buff, irregularly barred with black. The underparts are 

 buff, shading to white on the chin, belly, axillaries, and under wing-coverts, 

 streaked on the neck, and barred on the breast, flanks, axillaries, and 

 longest under tail-coverts, with dark brown. Base of bill, legs, and feet buff ; 

 point of bill and claws dark brown ; irides hazel. After the autumn moult 

 the buff margins of the feathers of the upper parts are more conspicuous, 

 and the breast is not barred, but obscurely streaked. Young in first 

 plumage resemble adults in autumn plumage, but the margins of the 

 feathers of the upper parts are a darker buff, and the spots on the throat 

 and breast are much less distinct. Young in down are buff, marbled with 

 black, and dusted with white on the upper parts, but are nearly pure white 

 on the underparts. 



