LEAST SANDPIPER. 143 



TRINGA MINUTILLA Vieill. 

 101. Least Sandpiper. (242) 



Upper parts in summer, with each feather blackish centrally, edged with 

 bright bay, and tipped with ashy or white ; in winter and in the young, simply 

 ashy; tail feathers, gray, with whitish edges, the central blackish, usually 

 with reddish edges ; crown, not conspicuously different from hind neck ; chest- 

 nut edgings of scapulars usually scalloped; below, white, the jugulum with 

 dusky streaks and an ashy or brownish suffusion; bill, black; legs, dusky 

 greenish. Smallest of the sandpipers. Length, 5J-6 inches; wing, 3^-3 J; tail, 

 2 or less ; bill, tarsus and middle toe with claw, about J. ' 



Hab. — Whole of North and South America, breeding north of the United 

 States. Accidental in Europe. 



Nest, a depression in the ground, lined with grass and leaves. 



Eggs, three or four, light drab, thickly sprinkled with reddish-brown spots. 



The appearance of this, the smallest of the Sandpipers, always 

 excites a feeling of pity as he is Seen hurrying along the sand in rear 

 of his big brothers, uttering his feeble " peep " as if begging them to 

 leave a little for him. 



In Ontario it is a common species, found in all suitable places in 

 spring and fall, but its breeding ground is far north, and little, if 

 anything, is known of its nest or eggs. Some might consider that a 

 matter of no consequence, but here is what Dr. Coues says about it in 

 his "Birds of the North- West": "Fogs hang low and heavy over rock- 

 girdled Labrador. Angry waves, palled with rage, exhaust themselves 

 to encroach upon the stern shores, and, baffled, sink back howling 

 into the depths. Winds shriek as they course from crag to crag in 

 mad career, till the humble mosses that clothe the rocks crouch lower 

 still in fear. Overhead the Sea Gulls scream as they winnow, and the 

 Murres, all silent, ply eager oars to escape the blast. What is here to 

 entice the steps of the delicate birds ? Yet they have come, urged 

 by resistless impulse, and have made a nest on the ground in some 

 half-sheltered nook. The material was ready at hand, in the mossy 

 covering of the earth, and little care or thought was needed to 

 fashion a little bunch into a little home. 



" Four eggs are laid (they are buffy-yellow, thickly spotted over 

 with brown and drab), with the points together, that they may take 

 up less room and be more warmly covered ; there is need of this, such 

 large eggs belonging to so small a bird. As we draw near the mother 

 sees us, and nestles closer still over her treasures, quite hiding them 

 in the covering of her breast, and watches us with timid eyes, all 

 anxiety for the safety of what is dearer to her than her own life. 



