SANDPIPERS 



(256) Helodromas solitarius 

 solitarius 



(Wilson) (Gr., marsh runner; Lat., solitary). 



SOLITARY SANDPIPER. Bill 

 and legs slender and both dark 

 colored. Plumage as shown; the 

 lone o£ upper parts being a lustrous 

 olive-brown; rump dark; outer 

 tail feathers and under surfaces of 

 wings, conspicuously barred. L., 

 8.50; W., 5.00; Tar., 1.25; B., 1.20. 

 Eggs — Grayish or bluish - green, 

 spotted with blackish, 1.40 x .95; laid 

 in deserted nests from three to thirty 

 feet above ground. 



Range — In summer, from Mass., 

 Pa., 111. and Neb. north to New- 

 foundland and Keewatin. Winters 

 south of the U. S. 



(257) GREEN SANDPIPER (H. 

 6crophus). An European species, 

 accidentally straying to Nova Scotia. 



of it be brought down from the heights at which they like 

 to travel. They are always on the alert for danger, however 

 industriously they may appear to be feeding; if their suspi- 

 cions are aroused, they become very noisy. As they fre- 

 quently start up from marshes in which ducks like to feed, 

 they are not very kindly regarded by duck hunters. 



SOLITARY SANDPIPERS are so called because they 

 rarely, if ever, go in tiocks. During spring and summer, 

 single ones or pairs are usually seen, while in fall as many 

 as half a dozen may form a company, representing probably 

 the parents and their offspring. They frequent fresh-water 

 ponds and meadows, preferring those surrounded by woods 

 or underbrush. They run swiftly to and fro along the 

 edges, gathering anything edible from the soft soil or the 

 surface of the water. Occasionally they cross the pond, 

 their fluttering wings down-curved in sandpiper fashion and 

 tail spread so that their distinguishing marks, the white 

 outer tail feathers with black barring, may be distinctly 

 seen. As they alight, the wings are elevated perpendicularly 



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