SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 299 



THE SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 



TOTANUS MACULARIUS. 



THE only authentic instance of this rare bird having been found 

 in Scotland was lately communicated to me by my obliging 

 correspondent, Mr Angus, of Aberdeen, who states that two 

 specimens a male and a female were left at the Aberdeen 

 Museum in August, 1867, in the absence of Mr Mitchell, who up 

 to the present moment does not know by whom the birds were 

 presented, or where they were shot. Both were in the flesh, and 

 had not been long dead: they were very prettily marked and 

 somewhat dissimilar in size the male being the larger. The 

 female is now in Mr Angus' cabinet; the other specimen has been 

 kindly presented to me by Mr Mitchell, and is now in my own 

 collection. 



This species has been catalogued as a Caithness bird by Mr 

 Sinclair, of Wick, but no information is given as to the locality or 

 time of capture.* It is likewise in a Forfarshire list of birds, 

 drawn up by Mr Mollison, of Montrose, for the statistical account 

 of the parish of Craig in that county; but, in this case, a mistake 

 may have been committed. 



According to Audubon, who writes in a very interesting manner 

 of its habits from his own observation and that of his* friends, the 

 Spotted Sandpiper, like its congener, often traces the streams 

 some distance into the interior, and betakes itself during the 

 summer months to gardens, and other enclosures near dwelling- 

 houses. It differs, however, from the common bird in the 

 construction of its nest, which is bulky, and raised from the 

 ground to the height of from six to nine inches. The structure is 

 well finished, and lined with slender grasses and Eider duck's 

 feathers. Wilson also mentions its habit of resorting to corn- 

 fields to breed. A nest found by him consisted "wholly of short 

 pieces of dry straw." The following incident is related by that 

 agreeable writer in his account of the species: " My venerable 

 friend, Mr William Bartram, informs me that he saw one of these 

 birds defend her young for a considerable time from the repeated 

 attacks of a ground squirrel. The scene of action was on the 



* I have since learned from J. H. Gurney, Jun., that Mr Sinclair had 

 mistaken some other bird for the Spotted Sandpiper. 



