204 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



close to each other, so that as soon as the birds belonging to one 

 are disturbed the others breeding in the vicinity become alarmed, 

 and general confusion prevails. The female incubates the eggs, 

 but the period taken up by this is still unrecorded by American 

 naturalists. She sits closely, and is said to indulge in various 

 alluring antics when scared from the nest. As soon as the broods 

 are grown, Bartram's Sandpiper again begins to join into large flocks 

 which roam about the uplands in quest of suitable feeding places, 

 until the period of their departure for the south. But one brood 

 is reared in the season. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Totanus, with the inner webs of 

 the primaries conspicuously barred and the tail wedge-shaped. 

 Length, 12 inches. 



