SANDPIPERS 



(261) Bartramia longicauda 



(Beck.) (Lat.. lonK-tailcd). 



UPLAND PLOVER ; BART- 

 RAMIAN SANDPIPER ; FIELD 

 PLOVER. Tail long, for a shore 

 bird. Neck and legs rather long. 

 Head small. Plumage as shown. 

 Tail feathers shading from dark 

 brown on the middle pair to light 

 orange-brown on the outer, all 

 barred with lilack, with a broad 

 subterminal black band and white 

 tips. Plumage changes but little 

 with the seasons. L., 12.00; W., 

 6.50; T., 3.50; Tar., 1.90; B., 1.15. 

 Nest — A grass-lined hollow in fields 

 or on prairies; three or four buff 

 eggs, blotched with yellowish — 

 brown, 1.75 x 1.25. 



Range — Breeds from Va., Ind. 

 and Ore. north to Me., Ont., Mich.. 

 Keewatin and Alaska. Winters in 

 South America. 



Willets are very suspicious and they are exceedingly noisy 

 when their suspicions are aroused. In marshes and ilats 

 where they are feeding you can at nearly all times hear their 

 shrill cries of "pill-will willet. " When disturbed on their 

 breeding grounds they are extremely vociferous. They 

 formerly nested all along our Atlantic coast, as well as in the 

 Mississippi Valley, but now they are only wanderers north 

 of Virginia. They are usually to be found in flocks of 

 greater or less size; when individuals become detached from 

 bands of their own kind, they usually associate with other 

 species. I have frequently, along our New England shores, 

 seen single Willets in flocks of Least Sandpipers — a most 

 ludicrous sight to see this comparative giant endeavoring to 

 keep pace with the agile and fleet "Peeps." 



UPLAND PLOVER, or Bartramian Sandpi[)ers, are of 

 peculiar interest because, except during the breeding season, 

 they frequent plains and uplands, often remote from water. 

 On western prairies, where they are more abundant than 



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