SCOLOPACIDflE — THE SNIPE FAMILY — TRINGOIDES. 
303 
hardly distinguishable from the full voice of the parents ; and they also at a very 
early period give the peculiar movements of their tail-feathers for which the species 
is noted. The flight of this bird is very uneven, being seldom for any considerable 
distance in a straight line. In the love season it often performs aerial gambols just 
above the surface of the ground. When wounded it will take to the water and swim 
beneath the surface with considerable swiftness. In the spring it takes possession, in 
pairs, of the muddy margins of watercourses, making excursions from thence into the 
adjoining fields. It is exclusive in habit, never seeking the society of other species. 
Mr. J. A. Allen found this species quite common in Eastern Kansas in the early 
part of May. He afterward noticed it more or less frequently along the streams of 
Western Kansas, near Fort Hays, and in Colorado he traced it up to the very source 
of the South Platte, on Mount Lincoln. He also met with it occasionally in the 
Valley of Great Salt Lake. Dresser obtained in August a single immature specimen 
near Matamoras, and in September and October found the species abundant near San 
Antonio. Mr. Kidgway states that, next to the Kildeer, he found this bird the most 
abundant and generally distributed Wader in the Great Basin. He saw it breeding 
from an altitude of four thousand feet or less to above seven thousand. At Carson 
City it arrives about the 29th of April. 
Although not met with by Sir John Richardson, this bird has a high northern 
range, reaching almost to the borders of the Arctic Ocean. Bernard Ross found it 
abundant along the banks of the Mackenzie ; Kennicott mentions it as breeding near 
Fort Resolution; and in each instance the nests are described as having been mere 
depressions in the ground, with a few bits of grass or a few dry leaves placed there- 
in. Mr. Dali obtained a few specimens at Nulato from the 16th to the 30th of May ; 
Mr. Bannister found it common on the Island of St. Michael’s in the fall ; and it was 
taken by Bischoff at Sitka. Mr. MacFarlane found it breeding and quite common in 
the neighborhood of Fort Anderson. It is abundant along the Anderson River, and 
also on the Mackenzie from Fort Good Hope to Fort Simpson. The nests are all 
spoken of as being mere depressions, scantily lined with leaves and grass ; they con- 
tained eggs in the latter part of June. Mr. Audubon found it breeding in Labrador 
on the 17th of June, and by the 29tlx of July the young were fully fledged. 
In favorable seasons the Peet-Weet appears in Massachusetts during the last week 
in April, and in some seasons nearly a fortnight later. It comes at first in small 
roving flocks, and for a while moves about in a brief and even sportive manner, flying 
back and forth along and across the smaller streams, performing strange aerial evolu- 
tions, seemingly more for its own enjoyment than in quest of food. As these birds 
move about — and more especially when they meet other small flocks of their own 
species — they give utterance to their cheerful and lively whistle, which is loud and 
shrill, and not unlike the syllables peet-weet several times repeated. Toward the 
close of the refrain the notes are lower and the sound more plaintive. A little later 
in the season they separate into pairs along the banks of smaller streams, and usually 
nest in fresh-water meadows or in low uplands not far from water ; occasionally 
they nest on uplands not far from the sea. Sometimes this bird is so familiar as to 
make its nest within a garden, and not far from the house. In one instance Mr. 
Nuttall found its eggs in the strawberry beds of a resident of Belmont, Mass., while 
young and old familiarly fed on the margin of an adjoining duck-pond. 
This species has a very characteristic habit of vibrating its tail and moving its 
head and body, as if balancing itself, the head and tail being alternately depressed 
and elevated. When excited, and anxious for the safety of its young, this vibratory 
motion is especially noticeable, and is joined with plaintive cries of peet-iveet-weet. 
