LITTLE SANDPIPER. 281 



toes. Now, reader, if in such large species as the Grus Jlmericana, for 

 example, the young has been palmed on the world of science as a distinct 

 species for nearly a century past, without any other kind of reason or proof 

 than that obtained from mere dried skins, can we be surprised, that in birds 

 so small as the present, opportunities should have occurred of committing 

 errors. My opinion, which I do not present to you without due considera- 

 tion, is, that we have in the United States only the diminutive species badly 

 figured by Wilson, and almost as carelessly described by that wonderful 

 man. To enter upon a long discussion as to the identity of the present bird 

 with any of the small Tringas enumerated by European authors, would be 

 to me quite as irksome as it would prove unprofitable to you, for there 

 scarcely exists a single description of these birds sufficiently accurate to 

 enable one to decide with certainty. All are as nearly as possible of the 

 same size and colour, excepting in those deviations dependent upon age, and 

 the different state of plumage. But in the most intimately allied species 

 there are always marked differences in habits, and especially in the sound of 

 the voice. 



That this species is naturally disposed to seek alpine sections of the 

 country for the purpose of reproduction, I obtained abundant proof whilst 

 in Labrador, where I found it plentiful, and breeding on the moss-clad crests 

 of the highest rocks, within short distances of the sea. There are means 

 through which the experienced student of Nature may discover the hidden 

 treasures of birds of this family, which to others would prove useless, and 

 which I shall here point out. At all periods, excepting those at which they 

 have nests containing eggs, or young so small and delicate as to require all 

 the care of their parents, the flight of the present species usually resembles 

 that of the Common Snipe, Scolopax Wilsonii; but when startled from the 

 nest, or from any place in its immediate vicinity, it rises on wing, and 

 moves off low over the ground with deeply incurved wings, and with a 

 whirring motion of these organs, which, if as rapid as that of a Partridge, 

 would appear quite similar; but, on such occasions, our bird moves slowly 

 before you, and instead of uttering the note of independence, as it were, 

 which it emits at other times while freely and fearlessly travelling, it gives 

 out sounds weakened as if by grief or anxiety, for the purpose of inducing 

 you to follow it. If on the ground, it acts in a similar manner, moves off 

 slowly, and limping as if crippled, and this at times quite as much as if you 

 had really come upon it while on its nest, or surprised it with its young. 

 On all such occasions, reader, you ought to mark well the spot from which 

 the bird has started, and, to assure yourself that your eye may not be 

 deceived, throw your cap or hat at your feet to serve as a beacon, should 



