566 BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER. 



of rufous, to white on the sides, the whole being distinctively 

 marked with black. 



Reaching Western New York late in April, and nest- 

 ing in the latter half of May, its 4 eggs, some 1.82 x 1.25, are 

 a warm light-brown, or drab, specked all over with brown, 

 some of the marks about the large end being larger, others, 

 all over the surface, being lighter. There is a noticeably 

 warm effect in the entire coloring. The nest is a mere 

 depression in the ground, generally lined slightly with 

 dried grasses, and occurs here about the middle of May 

 or later. Unless seriously disturbed, the birds are not 

 particularly shy. I have known the female to be caught 

 with the hand on the nest, and to continue sitting after 

 some of the eggs had been broken. Indeed, when so 

 alarmed as to refrain from sitting on the nest, she will lin- 

 ger a whole night near the cold, wet eggs. The young in 

 the down are white beneath, "finely mottled with black, 

 white, and with brown above," and leaving the nest at once, 

 grow rapidly, testing their wings already when only a 

 month old. 



Quip-ip-ip-ip, quip-ip-ip-ip, spiritly and rapidly uttered, 

 may represent the ordinary alarm note of this species; but 

 when it alights on the ground, on the fence, or even in a 

 tree, stretching or rather holding its wings straight up for 

 a few moments, it utters a prolonged and peculiar note, 

 sounding like chr-r-r-r-r-ee-e-e-e-e-e-oo-o-o-o-o-oo, the syllable 

 ee being strongly on the upward slide, and the syllable oo 

 in a marked falling inflection. This prolonged, mournful, 

 mellow whistle, " more like the whistling of the wind than 

 a bird's voice," may be heard even in the night, and is one 

 of the most weird and never-to-be-forgotten sounds in na- 

 ture. This bird is a swift and graceful runner, and a very 

 adept at hiding in the grass. Its flight is regular, rapid, 



