284 LITTLE SANDPIPER. 



lowly occupation of scraping in the mud, whence, probably, originated the 

 contemptible appellation of Humility ', by which they and some other small 

 birds of similar habits have been distinguished. For the discovery of their 

 food, their flexible and sensitive awl-like bills are thrust into the mire, 

 marshy soil, or wet sand, in the manner of the Snipe and Woodcock, and in 

 this way they discover and route from their hiding retreat, the larvae and 

 soft worms which form a principal part of their fare. At other times, they 

 also give chase to insects, and pursue their calling with amusing alacrity. 

 When at length startled, or about to join the company they have left, a 

 sharp and monotonous whistle, like the word peet, or j)eep, is uttered, and 

 they instantly take to wing, and course along with the company they had 

 left. On seeing the larger marsh-birds feeding, as the Yellow-shanks and 

 others, a whirling flock of the Peeps will descend among them, being 

 generally allowed to feed in quiet; and at the approach of the sportsman, 

 these little timorous rovers are ready to give the alarm. At first, a slender 

 peep is heard, which is then followed by two or three others, and presently 

 peep, pip, pip' p } p, murmurs in a lisping whistle through the quailing 

 ranks, as they rise on the wing, and inevitably entice with them their larger 

 but less watchful associates. Towards evening in fine weather, the marshes 

 almost re-echo with the shrill but rather murmuring or lisping, subdued, and 

 querulous call of peet, and then a repetition of pe-dee, pe-die, dSe-dBe, 

 which seems to be the collecting cry of the old birds calling together their 

 brood, for, when assembled, the note changes into a confused murmur of 

 peet, peet, attended by a short and suppressed whistle." 



During my never-to-be-forgotten residence at Henderson, on the banks of 

 the fair Ohio, I was in the habit of frequently seeing large flocks of these 

 birds on the sandy shores of that river, during the autumnal months, and 

 finding after awhile that they could easily be driven into a partridge net, I 

 laid one accordingly on several occasions, when, by using gentle means, I 

 induced many dozens of these tiny, fat, and delicious birds to enter and 

 become prisoners. 1 clipped the wings of many of them, and turned them 

 loose in my garden, for the purpose of studying their habits in this sort of 

 half-confined state; but they were all soon destroyed by those most 

 destructive pests, the Norway rats, which at that time infested all my 

 premises. 



I found these birds quite abundant on the whole coast of Florida, during 

 winter, and I have no doubt that many remain with us all the year; indeed, 

 it would not at all surprise me to hear that some of them actually breed in 

 parts of the alpine districts of our Middle States. I have also found them 

 equally numerous along the whole coast of the Gulf of Mexico, during my 

 recent visit to Texas, when, late in April, some of them were still travelling 



