174 



The Spotted Sandpiper. 



wide distribution, being found from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and equally 

 abundant in Alaska and Florida. The bird 

 is also found in the West India Islands and 

 in Mexico, and Central and South America. 

 Its range may therefore be said to be Am- 

 erica at large. 



The Spotted Sandpiper is known by a 

 variety of names. Of these " Peet-weet " 

 manifestly refers to its shrill double-noted 

 cry; " Tip-up " and " Teeter " to its curious 

 bobbing or balancing motion, raising and 

 lowering its tail as it stands; while " Potato 

 Snipe," by which name it is known in cer- 

 tain parts of Long Island, is given from its 

 habit of feeding in the potato fields, where 

 it destroys great numbers of insects. 



This species breeds almost everywhere in 

 temperate North America, and its nest may 

 be found high up on the Rocky Mountains, 

 as well as near the streams on the plains 

 below, and on the coast. Although breed- 

 ing both in Labrador and Alaska, it was not 

 found by Dr. Richardson in the fur country, 

 but it has been taken on the Mackenzie 

 River. 



This species reaches the Middle States 

 from the South early in April in small flocks, 

 which soon separate into pairs. Nesting is 

 begun in May, and the site chosen varies 

 much with the surroundings. Sometimes 

 the nest is close to the bank of some 

 little brook or still pool, and at others it 

 may be at quite a distance from the water 

 in a pasture, under a hedgerow, or among 

 the weeds on the edge of a potato field. 

 Nuttall saw one in a strawberry bed. In 

 such locations a little hollow is scraped in 

 the ground, and on a rough lining of a few 

 blades of dried grass the eggs are deposit- 

 ed. Sometimes the nest is more elaborate 

 and better finished, for Audubon describes 

 those found by him on an island in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence as being quite large 

 and well lined. Others .still, found on the 

 coast of Labrador, were even more worthy 

 the name of nests, being made of dry moss 



and carefully lined with duck's feathers and 

 dried grass. These nests were concealed 

 under ledges of rock, and were so well 

 hidden that they probably would not have 

 been discovered, had it not been that the 

 birds flew out as the naturalist was passing 

 by. 



The eggs of the Spotted Sandpiper are 

 always four in number. They are much 

 pointed at the small end, and when lying in 

 the nest the small ends are all together in 

 the middle and the large ends toward the 

 outside. The eggs are a dull cream color 

 or grayish-yellow, and are thickly spotted 

 with blotches of dark brown and black, 

 which are much more numerous about the 

 larger end. Like those of many snipe-like 

 species, the eggs are very large in propor- 

 tion to the size of the bird, being an inch 

 and a quarter in length, and very wide at 

 the larger end. 



The young leave the nest as soon as they 

 are hatched and follow the mother as her 

 chickens do a hen. Their food is at first 

 flies and small insects, and as they grow 

 older, water insects, snails and small shells. 

 After the young have become able to fly 

 the family still remain together, and being 

 joined by other individuals, they keep in 

 flocks, often of a dozen individuals, until the 

 approach of cold weather, in October or 

 early November, when they begin their 

 journey southward. 



The flight of the Spotted Sandpiper is 

 rapid and- sustained, and when a flock is 

 flying by, they swing from side to side, show- 

 ing now their dark backs and again the 

 white of their under parts. Sometimes they 

 huddle closely together and again spread 

 out. They circle and turn with surprising 

 quickness. As soon as a flock alights the 

 birds scatter out, running along the shore 

 or upon floating drift stuff, hunting for food, 

 and often wading out in the water until it 

 is too deep for them to touch the bottom, 

 when they swim easily and quite rapidly. 

 When shot over the water, and only wounded 



