Order Limicolce Solitary Sandpiper 153 



The note resembles the syllables peet-weet or 

 peet-weet-weet-weet. 



LITERATURE: 



Birds and Seasons. WILSON FLAGG. 



89. SOLITARY SANDPIPER; 

 SOLITARY TATTLER 



(Totanus solitaries.) 



Upper parts olive-gray, marked with small white spots ; under 

 parts white, sides of neck and breast shaded with mottled gray- 

 brown. Beak about an inch long, slender, dark ; legs long, 

 dark, bare above the first joint. Bird about half-way in size 

 between a sparrow and a robin. Sexes similar. 



THE solitary sandpiper, like the spotted one, is 

 not a land bird, and is included in our list only for 

 convenience. It may occasionally be met during 

 the migration seasons on the shores of fresh-water 

 ponds and lakes. It spends only a short time here, 

 however, passing northward to breed. Its habits 

 are in general much like those of the spotted sand- 

 piper. 



Breeding takes place in Northern New England 

 and northward. The only nest which has been dis- 

 covered was placed upon the ground. 



The bird is usually silent except when suddenly 

 flushed ; at such times it utters a sharp whistle. 



