190 BRITISH BIRDS. 



very close flocks, but associates with Dunlins, Stints, and other small 

 species of shore-birds. Its habits are very similar to those of the other 

 small Sandpipers. It runs actively about the shore, in search of its food, 

 and often wades breast-deep in the water. It loves to haunt the muddy 

 margins of inland lakes as well as the low-lying shores. Dr. Coues says 

 that in Labrador Bonaparte's Sandpiper is very common during migration 

 on the rocky coast, and was frequently seen on the large rocks which 

 slope abruptly down to the water, tripping over the green slippery surface 

 without showing any signs of fear at his presence. The flight of this species 

 is rapid and rather unsteady, the bird alternately showing its upper and 

 under surface. When alarmed the whole flock rises en masse, as if moved 

 by a common impulse ; and should any of its members be shot, the rest 

 return and wheel above their companions, often alighting again on the 

 same spot. The note of Bonaparte's Sandpiper is described by Dr. Coues 

 as a low, soft weet, different from that of any other Sandpiper. Other 

 American ornithologists describe it as a low lisping sound, neither mellow 

 nor whistling. 



The food of Bonaparte's Sandpiper consists of insects, worms, small 

 mollusks, and crustaceans, and probably in summer this fare is varied with 

 small ground-fruits. This bird searches for its food more amongst the 

 mud and seaweed-covered rocks than on the sand. 



But little is known of the habits of Bonaparte's Sandpiper during the 

 breeding-season. Its nesting-places are in the Arctic regions on the wild 

 lands near the Arctic Sea, or by the sides of the streams that fall into it. 

 Its nest was discovered by MacFarlane; and eggs taken by him on the 

 29th of June and on the 3rd and 4th of July were found to be hard-set. 

 The nest is described as a mere depression in the ground, in which a few 

 dead leaves are collected to serve as a lining. The eggs are four in 

 number. Those taken by MacFarlane are pyriform in shape, olive-brown 

 or brownish olive in ground-colour, marked with boldish surface-spots of 

 dark brown, and underlying spots of greyish brown. Many of the markings 

 are confluent on the larger end of the egg. They measure T35 inch in 

 length and '95 inch in breadth. An egg in my collection is greyish 

 buff" in ground-colour, thickly spotted over the entire surface with reddish 

 brown and with a few larger blotches intermingled of the same colour, 

 and with numerous underlying markings of purplish grey and pale brown. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper appears only to rear one brood in the year, and 

 soon after the young are strong on the wing the great southward journey 

 commences. It has been noticed in the Northern States as early as the 

 20th of July on its migration south ; but in Greenland the young birds 

 do not start from their birthplace before the end of August or beginning 

 of September. On migration this bird frequently joins flocks of Dunlins 

 and other Waders. 



