606* SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 
lakes near the end of the forest growth. In October it passes 
southward for the winter, when it visits the Bermudas, the Antilles, 
Central America, and South America down to the equatorial 
portions of Brazil. The return passage is in April. 
The nest is a light structure of bents and grasses, and is usually 
placed in meadows, by the borders of streams or ponds. The eggs, 
4in number, are clay-colour or pale reddish-white, blotched with 
ash-grey and two shades of chocolate-brown, these markings being 
decidedly darker than in eggs of our Common Sandpiper: measure- 
ments 1°3 by ‘95 in. The flight is rapid, performed with quick stiff 
beats of the wings, and the bird frequently utters its cry of Aéét- 
weet as it passes along ; while its bowings and other attitudes when 
on shore are very comical. (D. G. Elliot.) 
The adult in spring has the upper plumage very similar to that of 
our Common Sandpiper, but more strongly barred with dark brown, 
while the throat, and especially the breast, are thickly spotted with 
brownish-black ; bill greenish-olive above and yellow beneath ; legs 
and feet yellowish flesh-colour. The sexes are alike externally. Length 
7 in., wing 4°2. In winter the upper plumage lacks the bronze tint 
of spring, and the under surface is nearly white, but the secondaries 
are very distinctively barred with brown. 
