138 BIRDS 



UPLAND PLOVER 



This handsome wader with a dove-hke disposition, 

 though a true plover, is often called the Bartramian Sand- 

 piper, the Field Sandpiper, Prairie Pigeon, and Quaily. 



These birds breed from New Jersey, Illinois, and Colo- 

 rado northward, wintering in South America. Though shy 

 of footmen, they show little fear of those on horseback. 

 Protected by plumage resembling dry grass, they are diffi- 

 cult to detect. 



Several years ago I was walking through a pasture, 

 when one of these birds approached the roadside and with 

 upraised wings alighted on a fence post and eyed me 

 curiously. Her plaintive alarm note was a quavering whis- 

 tle quite in keeping with the way she folded her long 

 pointed wings. Two years later, when in the same locality, 

 I was walking against the wind one warm day, when 

 a bobolink fluttered to the grass six feet ahead. Parting 

 the grass and weeds, I decided to secure this nest for a 

 group, and settled myself preparatory to making a few 

 notes. After some fifteen minutes I placed one hand 

 behind me to arise, when my finger-tips touched something 

 soft, and a bartramian warbled from a tussock within an 

 arm's length. She was a "crippled bird," and her notes 

 indicated the utmost distress. 



During the nesting season the male bartramian mounts 

 high in the air, and on quivering wings utters a long-drawn- 

 out, plaintive whistle. This sound, when first heard, usually 

 produces an uncanny effect upon the listener, who is unable 



