158 



THE OOLOGIST. 



birds until I would see one carefully 

 squat down in the sand and sit there. 

 Then I thought I had one sure and 

 would sneak up as near as I could and 

 flush the bird, who would fly off with a 

 peet-weet, peet-weet of alarm. [ would 

 then rush forward to alas! disappoint- 

 naent. Time and time again I went 

 through this, till at last one day 1 sud- 

 denly came upon a bird squatted in the 

 sand who went up with a terrible sput- 

 ter. At last I thought I had them; but 

 alas! nothing but sand. My supposed 

 nesting birds were only basking in the 

 sun. The bird is very partial to sun 

 baths, and their preparations for these 

 are quite elaborate. They run along 

 until they find a suitable patch of white 

 sand. The bird then carefully kicks 

 away all of the stones Then lifting 

 one foot up and tucking it away in its 

 plumage, it carefully sits down. Then 

 it digs a little with one foot and then 

 with the other. After this it wriggles 

 and shucks around until it is thorough- 

 ly settled in the hot sand. Then after 

 yawning a couple of times and looking 

 around inquisitively, it throws its neck 

 backward, resting its head on the back 

 and, bill, pointing skyward, it quietly 

 closes its eyes. The wings are slightly 

 elevated and spread at the same time. 

 It will remain perfectly motionless and 

 apparently asleep for from one to ten 

 minutes. It arouses very suddenly and, 

 straightening up and shaking itself, 

 stai'ts off with a peet-weet-tveet. The 

 Sandpipers are vei-y shy about their sun 

 baths, and though you may be well ac- 

 quainted with them, you may have some 

 trouble in catching one at it. The ex- 

 tent of the Spotted Sandpiper's vocabu- 

 lary may be summed up as peep,peet and 

 weet. They employ a larger number of 

 combinations and sentences with these 

 three synonyms than at first thought 

 appears possible. By changing tone, 

 accent, rapidity of utterance, etc., they 

 plainly express sorrow, alarm, pleasure, 

 displeasure, etc. When the mother bird 

 is leading a brood of four newly-hatch- 



ed young, she coaxes them along with 

 a soft little peep, peep, once in a while 

 introducing a sharp peet-weet of warn- 

 ing or scolding to some rash or laggard 

 one among the brood. 



My first nest was found accidently. I 

 was walking towards a small stream, 

 and when coming over a grassy knoll 

 about one hundred yards from the 

 stream, a Spotted Sandpiper started 

 from under my feet and fluttered and 

 tumbled along the ground, as though 

 its wing was broken. My first inclina- 

 tion was to catch the wounded bird, 

 but I had been there before — the gag 

 was old. After a short search I succeed- 

 ed in finding the nest. My delight was 

 turned to disgust upon the discoveiy 

 that the four eggs were picked and just 

 about to hatch. While examining the 

 nest, the birds flew about in wide cir- 

 cles, uttering excited cries of alarm, 

 peet-weet-weet-weet-weet-weet. I was on 

 second thought, elated by finding the 

 nest. I had learned something and 

 now might expect to hunt for nests of 

 this species with some success. My 

 second nest was found about a week la- 

 ter, and in the same manner as the first. 

 This nest was placed in a tuft of grass 

 on a hillside, about 200 feet from a 

 creek. The nest was a hollow, bare 

 spot on the ground, lined with a few 

 leaves, bits of dry grass and soft weed; 

 stems, arranged in a circular form. 

 The eggs were four in number as is 

 generally the case (I think that not one 

 in one hundred complete sets are of 

 three, and I have yet to hear of one of 

 five). The eggs are pyriform and ar- 

 ranged in a circle, the small ends to- 

 gether in the center. If one or all are 

 turned around, the bird will replace 

 them in their natural position. The 

 set was perfectly fresh, and measured 

 34x35, 34x25, 35x26 and 33x24 mm. 

 The eg2;s are a dark, rich grayish-buff, 

 spotted and specked with very dark 

 chocolate-brown, principally around 

 the greater end. 



My third nest I saw built. A short. 



