42 



THE OOLOGIST 



SOME NESTING BIRDS OF THE 

 JUDITH BASIN, MONTANA, No. 2. 



P. M. Silloway 



Nest No. 9. May 25. Bartramian 

 Sandpiper. — This is another of the Illi- 

 nois birds whose nesting was a mys- 

 tery to me in the days when I studied 

 their interesting ways on the farms of 

 Central Illinois. I remember some of 

 the many occasions when I watched 

 the movements of a pair of these 

 prairie dwellers, hoping to locate a 

 home of theirs in a tuft of meadow 

 verdure, but in my Illinois experiences 

 a-field I was doomed to disappoint- 

 ment in this respect. This sand- 

 piper is not numerous on the benches 

 of the Judith Basin, for each season I 

 located not more than two or three 

 pairs in the vicinity of Lewistown; it 

 was with real pleasure, therefore, that 

 I heard the mellow whistle apprising 

 me of their presence, and I felt cer- 

 tain that since the pairs were few I 

 could gratify my desire to find a nest. 

 On the day in question I was on the 

 trail of a nest of Long-billed Curlew, 

 and in the portion of open prairie I 

 was searching, I decided that a pair 

 of Bartramian Sandpipers must be 

 nesting for their activities seemed to 

 center in that locality. To some who 

 know these two species, it may seem 

 strange that I deserted the quest of 

 the Long-billed Curlew's nest and turn- 

 ed my energies for the day in the dis- 

 covery of the Sandpiper's home. I 

 felt certain of locating the Curlew's 

 nest at a later time, however, and 

 since I had never gazed upon a Sand- 

 piper's domicile, curiosity overcame 

 cupidity and I paid no further atten- 

 tion to the male Curlew's angry dem- 

 onstrations at my proceedings. 



For a while I tramped up and down 

 and across and back over the little 

 bench where the nest seemed to be. 

 In fact, the ground was nearly bare, 

 except for the short tufts of lupine. 



and at length I concluded that I was 

 again deluded regarding a nest. My 

 time was getting limited; and as I 

 was then making a collection of bird- 

 skins for a local institution, I decided 

 to pick up something to work on upon 

 my return, for which purpose I car- 

 ried a small collecting gun. A Mc 

 Cown's Longspur happened to be a 

 TAiitable victim at hand, but when I 

 fired at it there fluttered out from a 

 sparse tuft of lupine near me the Mrs. 

 Bartramian Sandpiper for whom I was 

 searching. She had sat close on her 

 nest until the report of the little gun 

 proved too great a shock for her 

 nerves, and thus she had revealed the 

 secret. Indeed, her nervousness was 

 apparent as she flew off low and 

 alighted, for she stood teetering, and 

 waving her wings up and down, wond- 

 ering what had happened. The nest 

 was a thin bedding of dried grass, and 

 the tuft she had selected was scarce- 

 ly large enough to cover her, the de- 

 pression being four and one-half 

 inches across and one and one-half 

 inches deep. There were four eggs in 

 the nest, placed with the small ends 

 together in the middle of the depres- 

 sion. 



Ne:t No. 10. May 25. McCown's 

 Longspur. — This Longspur is general- 

 ly quite numerous on the benches of 

 the Judith Basin. They can be heard 

 everyvv^here late in May over the 

 prairies, uttering their jingle of chat- 

 tering, warbling medley as they flut- 

 ter upward in capricious, aimless 

 flight, to return to the ground with 

 outspread unmoving wings, like min- 

 iature parachutes. They nest num- 

 erously on the benches, and in trailing 

 down a nest of the Long-billed Curlew 

 I frequently ran upon a half dozen 

 nests of the Longspur as incidental 

 finds. Unlike the Horned Lark, Mc- 

 Cown's Longspur sits until it is star- 

 tled from the nest, and then flutters 



