322 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



SPOTTED SANDPIPER (Actitis maadaria) . 

 Common or local names: Teeter; Teeter-peep; Tip-up; Sand-lark. 



Length. — About 7.50 inches; bill .95. 



Adult. — Above light brown, with a faint greenish luster, and lightly marked 

 with blackish; a whitish line above eye from bill to hind head; below 

 white, marked with rounded spots of blackish, larger in female; a row 

 of white spots on wings show in flight as a white line; outer tail feathers 

 barred with white; iris dark brown; biU yellowish and black; legs and 

 feet grayish olive. 



Young. — White below, unspotted; washed on breast with grayish. 



Field Marks. — The only Sandpiper which has large and distinct spots on 

 the under parts. Sails about borders of streams and ponds with wing 

 tips bent down, mngs showing a white line; almost always teeters when 

 alarmed. 



Notes. — A loud peet, weet, or weet, weet, beginning high and gradually 

 declining into a somewhat plaintive tone. 



Nest. — Of dried grasses, etc., on ground. 



Eggs. — Three to five, large for the bird, about 1.30 by 1, creamy, buffy or 

 clay colored, pointed, blotched with blackish and neutral tints. 



Season. — Common summer resident and migrant; mid April to mid Novem- 

 ber. 



Range. — North and South America. Breeds from tree Umit in northwestern 

 Alaska and Newfoundland south to southern California and northern 

 South Carolina; winters from California and South Carolina to southern 

 Brazil and central Peru; straggles to Great Britain and Helgoland. 



History. 



This is the most common of all Sandpipers in the interior, 

 and the only one which still breeds commonly in Massachusetts 

 and the greater part of New England. It is well known every- 

 where and readily is distinguished from all other summer 

 residents by its habit of teetering, or bobbing the head and 

 elevating the hinder parts, often turning about to all quarters 

 of the compass. This habit of extravagant balancing attracted 

 the attention of an Irish immigrant many years ago, who 

 christened it the " steelyard bird " from its habit of "weighin' 

 th' wurrums." 



Unlike the Solitary Sandpiper it frequents the sea-shore 

 quite as much as the interior, and nests along the sea beach 

 and on islands off shore. It sometimes makes its nest near a 



