504 ACTITURUS BAETRAMIUS, BARTUAMIAN SANDPIPER. 



the same month. About the middle of May it reaches the latitude of 

 Fort Eandall, with great numbers of Golden Plover and Esquimaux 

 Curlew, flecking the prairies everywhere. Its breeding habits may be 

 studied with perfect success in I^orthern Dakota, where it is the most 

 abundant of all the waders. We can scarcely cross a piece of prairie, 

 or travel a mile along the roads anywhere, without seeing it. Its gentle 

 and unsuspicious ways, its slender and graceful shape, and the beauty 

 of its markings, are all alike attractive, while the excellence of its flesh 

 is another point not less interesting, but less favorable for the bird. 

 Too many are destroyed at this season when they are pairing, for few 

 can resist the tempting shots, as the birds step along the road-side or 

 stand erect in the scanty grass, gazing at the passing vehicle with mis- 

 placed confidence. By the end of May those that are to breed further 

 north have passed on, while the remainder have paired and are about to 

 nest. 



As soon as they are mated the pairs keep close company, being rarely 

 bej ond each other's call, and are oftenest seen rambling together through 

 the grass. At such times they seem very slender, as indeed they are, 

 overtopping the scanty herbage with their long, thin necks, swaying 

 continually in graceful motion. Their ordinary note at this, as at other 

 seasons, is a long-drawn, soft, mellow whistle, of a peculiarly clear, reso- 

 nant quality ; but beside this, they have a note peculiar, 1 believe, to 

 this period of their lives. This is a very loud, prolonged cry, sounding 

 more like the whistling of the wind than a bird's voice ; the wild sound, 

 which is strangely mournful, is generally uttered when the bird, just 

 alighted, holds its wings for a moment perpendicularly, before adjusting 

 them over its back. It is frequently heard in the night, all through the 

 breeding season, and is, I think, one of the most remarkiible outcries I 

 ever heard. There is yet another note that the Tattler utters, chiefly 

 wlien disturbed breeding ; this is a harsh scream, quickly and often 

 repeated, much like that given by other waders under the same circum- 

 stances. 



In Northern Dakota the eggs are mostly laid by the second week in 

 June; the time is quite constant ; and, so far as I kn,ow, only one brood 

 is raised each year. The nest, like that of other bi/ds breeding on the 

 open prairie, is hard to find, as there is nothing whatever to guide a 

 search, and the herbage of the prairie, flimsy as it usually is at this 

 season, is sufficient to hide the variegated eggs which assimilate with 

 the colors of their surroundings. The nesting is quite similar to that 

 of the Curlews and Godwits. I have found nests on the open prairie 

 without landmarks; but, perhaps, oftener they are placed in the vicinity 

 of pools and sloughs, or along the edge of a piece of woods — always, 

 however, in an open spot. The female is a close setter, and will suffer her- 

 self to be almost trodden upon before she will quit her charge — ^indeed 

 nests are oftenest found by the fluttering of the female from under 

 ■one's feet. Early in incubation she generally flies to a little distance 

 and realights, walking leisurely about the grass; but if the eggs be far 

 advanced she is more solicitous, and will feign lameness, in hope of 

 drawing attention from the nest. The male soon joins her, and the pair 

 hover low of the ground, flying slowly around with incurved wings, 

 uttering their cries of distress ; and as several pairs are usually nesting 

 within hearing, they, too, become alarmed, and the general clamor is 

 continued until the intruder withdraws. The scene is much the same 

 as when the breeding places of the Curlews, Willets, or Godwits are 

 invaded. 



The nest is flimsy — merely a few straws to keep the eggs from the 



