Plate LXVIII. 



Fig. 13. RHYACOPHILUS SOUTARIUSSolitary Sandpiper. 



The Solitary Sandpiper* is a rather common migrant, but an irregular and rather rare summer- 

 resident. I have several times found young birds in July, and have also seen old birds in May and 

 June. The eggs are probably laid in April or May, and but one brood reared during a season. 



LOCALITY : 



This Sandpiper is very retired in its habits, frequenting little muddy ponds in lonely woods, shady 

 nooks, and sloughs along rivers and creeks, and similar damp, mucky places. The nest is supposed to 

 be placed generally in an open field adjoining or neighboring its feeding grounds. Few nests have ever 

 been taken, and little is actually known regarding its breeding habits. 



POSITION : 



The eggs, according to authorities, are placed on the ground in a little depression, the nest being- 

 similar to that of the Spotted Sandpiper. Mr. Ridgway informs me that he believes the eggs are often 

 deposited in abandoned nests of the Wood Thrush. Such nests, when they occur, as they frequently do 

 in the neighborhood of the summer home of this Sandpiper, should certainly be examined. 



MATERIALS: 



Very little attempt at constructing a nest is probably made; either the eggs are placed directly 

 upon the ground, or a little rubbish, such as is used by the Spotted Sandpiper or the Killdeer, is carried 

 to the site and carelessly deposited in the bottom of the chosen depression. 



EGGS: 



Dr. Wheaton, some years since, sent to the Smithsonian Institution an egg collected by Oliver Davie 

 in an open field bordering the Scioto River, near Columbus, which, though without any positive claims, 

 possessed characters that at the time seemed to entitle it to consideration as possibly belonging to R. 

 SoUtarius. Dr. Coues, in " Birds of the North-west," speaks of two eggs of this species from Cleveland, 

 belonging formerly to the collection of Dr. Kirtland, as the only ones he had ever seen. They measured 

 1.50 x 1.05. The ground was clay-colored ; the markings were heavy and numerous on the larger half of 

 the egg, smaller and fewer elsewhere. They were blackish-brown and lacked the slightest shade of 

 chocolate. 



The collection of the National Museum contains five specimens, supposed to belong to the species 

 being- considered. One of these is the egg sent by Dr. Wheaton, referred to above, and the remaining 

 four belong to a set taken in the East. The single egg is the one figured; the others are entirely different 

 in markings. Their ground-color is drab, finely spotted with dark brown, with many deep shell-marks, 



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