ISO 



NESTS AND EG0S OF 



263. SPOTTED SANBPIFEB. Actitis macularia (Linn.) Geog. Dist.— North 

 and South America and West Indies. Winters chiefly south of the United States. 



The familiar little Spotted Sandpiper is an extremely abundant bird throughout 

 North America, breeding everywhere. It winters in the Southern States and be- 

 yond. Every lazy fisherman and idle school boy, who has whiled away many a 

 balmy and hot summer day along the banks of streams, knows this bird well by the 

 "bobbing and tilting movements of its body and tail, and its peculiar note, peet-weet, 

 peet-weet, as it flies up and down and across the streams. It is known by many 

 a curious nickname: "Teeter-tail," "Tip-up," "Sandlark," "Peet-weet" and others 

 which generally refer to some eccentricity of the bird. The eggs are creamy, buff 

 or clay color, blotched, spotted and dotted with blackish-brown; usually four in 

 number, and measure about 1.34 by .92. The nest of this Sandpiper is made on the 

 ground, generally in the shelter of high weeds or grass on a sandy island or border 

 of a cultivated meadow, near water and often at a considerable Uistance from any 

 water. It is simply a depression in the soil, sometimes constructed with hay and 

 moss. The eggs like all those of the waders lay in the nests with the small ends 

 together. 



264. LONG-BILLED CtTEiLEW. Numenius longirostris Wils. Geog. Dist.— 

 Temperate North America, migrates south tp Guatemala and the West Indies. 



The large Sickle-bill is of irregular distribution in temperate North America, 



♦ ♦ European Curlew, N-umenzus arquutus. Similar in cut to the I^ung-billed Curlew. 



(From Brehm). 



