SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Sandpipers 



Range : America in general, migrating south to Chili and Buenos 

 Ayres. 



A handsome, noisy bird, commonly seen in flocks about 

 sand bars, creeks, and inlets. It has a shrill voice and gives 

 utterance to the most weird and startling cries when dis- 

 turbed as well as during migration. When half a dozen of 

 these birds converse the sounds are like the ejaculations of 

 a collection of shipwrecked foreigners, each speaking a 

 different tongue and mutually angry at not being under- 

 stood. It is followed by sportsmen, though as an article of 

 food its desirability is open to dispute. 



Solitary Sandpiper: Totanus solitarius. 



Length : 8-9 inches. 



Male and Female: Long, slender, dark bill. In breeding-plumage, 

 dark brown above with an olive wash. Head and neck streaked 

 with white ; rest of upper parts spotted with white. Below 

 white, with some dark streaks on the breast. Legs dull green- 

 ish. Markings less distinct in the fall. 



Season : Common migrant in May and September. 



Breeds : From northern United States northward, and believed to 

 breed in more southern localities. Probably a summer resident 

 in New England. 



Mange : North America, migrating southward as far as Brazil and 

 Peru. 



Not a true Shore-bird, but an inhabitant of the neighbour- 

 hood of wooded ponds and the margins of out-of-the-way 

 watercourses ; which, if startled from its seclusion, pene- 

 trates the underbrush rather than expose itself by flight. 

 Wilson states that this Sandpiper lives in watery places in 

 the mountainous region from New York State southwest to 

 Kentucky, but that they are never numerous. Audubon 

 notes the expert way in which they catch insects, saying 

 that they are particularly apt in seizing small dragon-flies in 

 their descent from the trees to the muddy pools where they 

 breed. In this neighbourhood they are generally seen in 

 pairs, and I have never noticed more than six or eight dur- 

 ing any one season. 



243 



