284 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



of her body, and the home is completed. I have found their nests in 

 small clumps of grass on sandy beaches where they were quite con- 

 spicuous; under bushes or blackberry vines near the edge of the water; 

 and on dry hill tops a long distance from water. 



Photo from life by C" A. Reed. 



She sat there as contentedly as though I was not in existence, and watched the small birds flitting 

 through the pines or flyi^ig overhead. 



The first part of last June I spent two mornings looking for the eggs 

 of one of these Sandpipers but without success. The next morning as 

 I was crossing the ridge on my way to continue the search, a bird 

 fluttered from nearly under my feet and ran off down the hill with her 

 wings trailing as though broken; it was one of the Sandpipers and I 

 found that I had nearly trod upon her four eggs that were in a hollow 

 in the short grass. It was in a small clearing near the edge of the scrub 

 pines, far from where I had been looking for them. The eggs were 

 beautifully marked, as is usual with this species, and were arranged in 

 the usual manner, that is with all the small ends together at the center 

 of the nest. They had little to conceal them from view except their 

 coloration, but this was so effectual that, when ten feet away, it was 

 very difficult to pick the eggs out from their surrounding, and anyone 

 not knowing the exact location could not have seen them even at a 



