The OoLOGisf. 



VOL.XII.no. 11. 



ALBION, N. Y., NOVEMBER, 1895. 



Whole No. 121 



Roy G. Fitch. 



The Spotted Sandpiper- 



[Actitis macularia). 



I was once asked by a bright-looking 

 little country lad, about ten years of 

 age, "What little bird is it that can't 

 stand up good?" Being puzzled and 

 curious, I asked him if the bird fell 

 down. He said, "No, but every once 

 in a while he pretty near does." Fur- 

 ther questioning brought out the fact 

 that he ran along the creek and waded 

 in the water. I then told the boy that 

 the bird was the Spotted Sandpiper, 

 probably better known as the "Tip-up." 



Although the Spotted Sandpiper is 

 one of the commonest and most widely 

 distributed of our American birds, it 

 appears to be sadly neglected, and in 

 reality less is known concerning its 



habits than appears to be about a great 

 many much rarer species. With me 

 the Spotted Sandpiper has always been, 

 a favorite bird. I have found it to be a 

 bird of rare ability in wit and of a great 

 eccentricity of habits. I have spent 

 more than one pleasant afternoon stud- 

 ying the habits of this little rascal. I 

 call him a rascal on account of his al- 

 ways present air of "I've got a nest,but 

 you can't find it." I am going to try to 

 tell, as best I can, what I have learned 

 of this bird and what I think of him. 



My first attempts at finding the nests 

 of this bird were sad failures. I did 

 not then possess Davie's valuable guide 

 or any such work, and my only bird 

 lore was gleaned from the pages of the 

 OoLOGiST, which, though very instruc- 

 tive and valuable, threw but little light 

 upon the Tip-up. It is a noticeable and 

 lamentable fact that the mentions of the 

 Spotted Sandpiper in Ornithological 

 books and publications are few and far 

 from satisfactory. I have noticed this 

 to be the case with most common spe- 

 cies. Students of nature seem to be un- 

 der the impression that a species is not 

 worth time or pains of study unless it 

 is at least uncommon. All seem to be 

 seeking the rare, the marvelous and the 

 unlikely- This is especially the case 

 with amateurs who, as a rule, can off- 

 hand better describe some rare bird 

 they probably never saw, than the Song 

 Sparrow, the Spotted Sandpiper, the 

 Robin, the Bluebird, the Phoebe and 

 others that they see nearly every day in 

 summer, spring and fall. 



Athough this Spotted Sandpiper is so 

 common I have never found but four 

 nests. I will first describe my unsuc- 

 cessful attempts at finding their nests. 

 Not knowing the situation, I naturally 

 supposed their nests to be placed in 

 the sand on the beach. I watched the 



