ram 
SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 497 
outer joined by a membrane to the middle, the wic.e of a rich orange 
yellow. The female differs little in plumage from the male; some- 
times the vent is slightly dotted with black, and the upper parts more 
brown. 
Nature seems to have intended this bird as a kind of spy, or sentinel, 
for the safety of the rest ; and so well acquainted are they with the 
watchful vigilance of this species, that, while it continues silent among 
them, the Ducks feed in the bogs and marshes without the least suspi- 
cion. The great object of the gunner is to escape the penetrating 
glance of this guardian, which it is sometimes extremely difficult to 
effect. On the first whistle of the Tell-Tale, if beyond gunshot, the 
gunner abandons his design, but not without first bestowing a few left- 
handed blessings on the author of his disappointment. 
SPOTTED SANDPIPER.—TRINGA MACULARIA. — Fic. 233. 
a tt. Zool. p. 173, No. 385. — La grive d’eau, Buff. viii. 140. — Edw. 27. — 
Peale’s Museum, No. 4056. 
TOTINTS MACULARITS. — Temince.* 
Ord’s reprint of Wils. part vii. p. 64.— Temm. Man. @’ Orn. ii. p. 656. — Bonap. 
Sunop. p. 325. — Flem. Br. Zosl. p. 102.— Spotted Sandpiper, Mont. Orn. Dict. 
ii, and Supp. Selhy's Ldust. of Br. Orn. w. 8. pl. 17. 
Tuts very common species arrives in Pennsylvania about the 20th 
of April, making its first appearance along the shores of our large 
rivers, and, as the season advances, tracing the courses of our creeks 
and streams towards the interior. Along the Rivers Schuylkill and 
Delaware, and their tributary waters, they are in great abundance 
during the summer. This species is as remarkable for perpetually 
wagging the tail, as some others are for nodding the head ; for, whether 
running on the ground, or on the fences, along the rails, or in the water, 
this motion seems continual; even the young, as soon as they are freed 
from the shell, ran abou-, constantly wagging the tail. About the 
middle of May, they resort to the adjoining corn-fields to breed, where 
I have frequently found and examined their nests. One of these now 
before me, and which was built at the root of a hill of Indian corn, on 
high ground, is composed wholly of short pieces of dry straw. The 
eggs are four. of a pale clay or cream color, marked with large, irregu- 
lar spots of black, and more thinly ».th others of a paler tint. They 
are large in proportion to the size of the bird, measuring an inch and 
a quarter in length, very thick at the great end, and tapering suddenly 
~ This is one of the most beautiful and most delicately marked among the smaller 
Totani ; closely allied to our Common Sand-Lark, 7’. hypoleucos, it is at once dis- 
tinguished by the spotted marking on the under parts, which contrasts finely with 
their pure white. They frequent the banks of rivers more than the larger species. 
and have all a peculiar motion of the body and tail while running. The Spotted 
Sandpiper is ec to both conti and has been once or twice killed in Great 
Britain. — Ep. 
42* 
