218 BIRDS 



concealed in folded wing, but conspicuous in flight. 

 Winter birds are duller and browner and without bars on 

 upper parts. 



Range — North America to Hudsons Bay, nesting through- 

 out its range; winters in Southern states and southward 

 to Brazil. 



Season — Summer resident; April to September or October. 



Do you know the spotted sandpiper, teeter, tilt-up, 

 teeter-tail, teeter-snipe, or tip-up, the famihar httle spotted 

 sandpiper of ditches and pools, roadside and woodland 

 streams, river shores, creeks, swamps, and wet meadows — 

 of the sea beaches, too, dtu-ing the migrations? Quite as 

 frequently it goes to dry uplands, wooded slopes, and 

 mountains as high as the timber line, as if undecided 

 whether to be a shore or a land bird, a wader or a songster. 

 Charming to the eye and ear alike, what possible attraction 

 can a half dozen of these pathetically small bodies, roasted 

 and served on a skewer, have to a hungry man when beef- 

 steak may be obtained? A thrush is larger and scarcely 

 more tuneful, yet numbers of these Kttle sandpipers are 

 shot annually. 



Some quaint and ridiculous mannerisms, recorded in a- 

 large list of popular names, make this a particularly inter- 

 esting bird to watch. Alighting after a short, low flight, it 

 first stands still, like a willet, to look about; then making a 

 deep bow to the spectator, you might feel complimented by 

 the obeisance, did not the elevation of the rear extremity 

 turned toward you the next minute imply a withering con- 

 tempt. Bowing first toward you, then from you, the 

 teeter dehberately sea-saws east, west, north, south. 

 This absurd performance, frequently and ever solemnly 



