250 BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. 



on which my friend Nuttall says, they soon grow very fat; in the Caro- 

 linas on crickets and other insects, as well as the seeds of the crab-grass, 

 Digitaria sanguinaria; and in the barrens of Kentucky they often pick the 

 strawberries. Those which feed much on cantharides, require to be very 

 carefully cleaned, otherwise persons eating them are liable to suffer severely. 

 Several gentlemen of New Orleans have assured me, that they have seen 

 persons at dinner obliged to leave the room at once, under such circum- 

 stances as cannot well be described here. When flavoured with the ripe 

 strawberries, on which they have fed, their flesh is truly delicious. 



This species performs its migrations by night as well as by day. Its flight 

 is rather swift and well sustained. While travelling, it generally flies so 

 high as to be beyond reach of the gun: but if the weather be cloudy, or if 

 it blow hard, it flies lower, and may easily be shot. It generally proceeds 

 in straggling bands, and moves along with continuous easy beats of the 

 wings, but sails, as it were, when about to alight, as well as during the love- 

 season. 



As long ago as 1805 and 1806, I observed this species breeding in the 

 meadows and green-fields of my plantation of Millgrove, near the banks of 

 Perkioming creek. Since then, I have known of its rearing broods in dif- 

 ferent parts of Pennsylvania, in the State of New York, and in various 

 districts to the eastward as far as the confines of Maine; but I did not find 

 it in Newfoundland or Labrador; and I have reason to believe that it does 

 not breed to the south of Maryland. 



My friend, the Rev. Dr. Bachman, has informed me that the Bartramian 

 Sandpiper makes its appearance in South Carolina about the 15th of July, 

 the hottest period of the year, in considerable numbers, betakes itself at 

 once to the high grassy lands, and there remains about a month. He con- 

 siders it to be then on its return from the north, and states that it is very 

 fat and affords delicious food. His manner of shooting them is, to ride in a 

 chair or gig over the fields which they frequent, or along the roads in their 

 neighbourhood, by which means they can be approached near enough to 

 enable the sportsman to shoot with almost a certainty of success, as the bird 

 rises out of the grass. If one attempts to get near them on foot, they rise 

 at too great a distance, then sweep in circles over the spot, and alight a con- 

 siderable way off. They are seldom met with there in flocks of more than 

 four or five individuals. 



I have found the eggs of this bird laid on the bare earth, in a hollow 

 scooped out to the depth of about an inch and a half, near the roots of a tuft 

 of rank grass, in the middle of a meadow, and seen some nests of the same 

 species formed of loosely arranged grasses, and placed almost beneath low 

 bushes growing on poor elevated ridges, furnished with a scanty vegetation. 



