THE OOLOGIST 



55 



NESTING OF THE SOLITARY 

 SANDPIPER. 



June 16, 1914, proved to be rather 

 a notable day for me in the oological 

 line. In the afternoon I went out 

 with the expectation of doing no 

 more than taking a nest of Broad- 

 winged Hawk, which a little girl 

 friend of mine had located. On our 

 way to the nest, she inquired, "Mr. 

 Henderson, is a partridge's nest any 

 good?" "Oh, no," I replied, "1 have 

 seen a good many of them." "But 

 this is one of those black ones," she 

 said. My indifference immediately 

 vanished, and after taking the set of 

 three broad wings, we went on to the 

 nest of the black partridge, which 

 proved to be the nest of the Canada 

 Grouse, containing five eggs. 



Surprises did not end here, for she 

 next inquired, "What kind of a snipe 

 builds in a tree?" 1 told her as far 

 as I knew no snipe built in a tree; it 

 must be some other bird. "Yes," she 

 said, "one of the boys found a Snipe's 

 nest in a tree, and I have seen it." 

 Though I was sure a mistake had been 

 made, she insisted it was so, and we 

 went to see it. It was almost dark 

 when we arrived there, and sure 

 enough a Snipe of some kind left the 

 nest, which was about a dozen feet 

 up in a poplar, growing near an old 

 beaver dam. It was too dark for me 

 to identify the bird. 



I wanted to come back next day and 

 photograph the nest and identify the 

 bird, but unfortunately had no film. 

 By the time 1 had secured some film 

 and went back for the picture, on the 

 19th, it was too late. An unusually 

 high wind had blown the nest oui of 

 the tree. 



So the matter rested and I often 

 wondered what kind of a Snipe it 

 could have been and vowed never to 

 be caught without film again. 



But in 1919 the mystery was solved 

 to my satisfaction, as in talking to an 

 acquaintance of mine who had done 

 some collecting, I remarked that I 

 had never been able to find a nest of 

 the Solitary Sandpiper, though the 

 birds were quite plentiful. "Oh," he 

 said, "I and my brother have found 

 two. They build in old nests of other 

 birds in willow bushes, about the 

 middle of June." 



Since that time I have been on the 

 lookout for another nest of the Soli- 

 tary Sandpiper, but without success 

 until this season, though in 1920 the 

 young sister of my girl collector 

 found two nests, also in bushes, but 

 did not tell me, as I had been away 

 three years at Peace River, and they 

 did not know I was still interested. 

 It is strange how a man can tramp 

 miles of country and find little or 

 nothing, and youngsters out for the 

 cows in the evenings make rare finds. 



On June 7th, 1922, I received a note 

 marked urgent, from a young friend 

 of mine, saying he had found a Soli- 

 tary Sandpiper's nest with four eggs. 

 I could not go until the 9th to see the 

 long-sought nest. Fearing the eggs 

 would hatch, he had taken them and 

 the parent bird for me, when I arrived. 



The nest was in a white buck tree, 

 growing at the edge of the timber, on 

 the shore of a small lake, and about 

 150 yards from his home. A brood 

 of young robins had been raised in it 

 last season, he told me. 



It was about eighteen feet from the 

 ground and a typical Robin's nest, of 

 grass and mud. The inside lining of 

 grass was gone and the eggs lay in 

 the bare mud cup, no material being 

 added by the Sandpiper, which I identi- 

 fied as the Eastern form of the bird. 



The eggs were replaced in the nest, 

 and after building a tripod, I was able 

 to get a picture. I also took one from 

 the ground, showing the surroundings. 



