GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 293 



Habits. — The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is a Sandpiper that 

 eschews the sands. It is not a coast bird, and prefers the prairies 

 to the mud-flats, and the wide grassy wastes to the shore. Its 

 migrations to and from its breeding grounds are consequently 

 chiefly taken across inland districts, but small parties occasionally 

 frequent the shore. It passes across the prairies of the United 

 States in spring, and arrives at its Arctic breeding grounds during 

 the first week in June, and the return migration commences in 

 August and lasts through the autumn. In many of its habits it 

 resembles Bartram's Sandpiper, and like that species it is fond of 

 frequenting the waggon tracks and bare spots on the plains, where 

 it runs about in quest of food. It is said to be a very tame bird, 

 seldom flying far after being fired at. Its flight is rapid and 

 straightforward. The note of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper is 

 described by Dr. Heermann as a low, oft-repeated tweet. The 

 food of this species consists principally of insects, especially 

 coleoptera, for which the bird searches amongst the droppings of 

 animals, and the herbage of its haunts. Worms, and when on the 

 shore crustaceans and moUusks are also eaten ; and during 

 summer various ground fruits and berries. During migration the 

 Bufif-breasted Sandpiper is more or less gregarious, but whether 

 these flocks continue through the winter appears to be unknown. 



Nidification. — But little has been recorded of the habits of 

 the Buff-breasted Sandpiper during the breeding season. Mac- 

 Farlane found this bird breeding in abundance in the Anderson 

 River district in the north-west of America, and obtained a re- 

 markably fine series of eggs ; but unfortunately he neglected his 

 splendid opportunities of observing and recording details of the 

 nesting habits of this and many other Waders, and the few facts 

 he has furnished only bring out in stronger contrast his unpardon- 

 able neglect. He informs us that the nest is always on the 

 ground, and scarcely distinguishable from that of the Golden 

 Plover {Charadrius virginicus). His series of eggs was obtained 

 between the 26th of June and the 9th of July. The Buff-breasted 

 Sandpiper was also met with breeding at Point Barrow, in Alaska, 

 by Mr. Murdoch. He states that it frequented the dry portions 

 of the tundra, and that the nest was a shallow depression lined 

 with a little moss. The eggs are four in number, and vary in 



