March, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
123 
THE PURPLE SANDPIPER 
T HIS is a stockily built, short-legged 
bird, about as large as the Pectoral 
Sandpiper. Its upper-parts and 
breast are a dark purple-gray in color, 
the remainder of its under-parts white. 
The basal third of the bill is orange, 
the remainder dark, and the legs and 
feet straw-color. Purple Sandpipers 
are found on rocky shores on both sides 
of the Atlantic. They are the only 
truly winter Shore-Bird which we have 
and are rare and irregular in occur- 
rence south of the rocky coast of New 
England. Here they may be found 
regularly in the winter months, espe- 
cially about outlying islets, usually in 
small flocks of 25 or less. They feed at 
low water among the rock-weed, their 
food consisting of very small shellfish, 
and, as a consequence of this diet, their 
flesh is said to be coarse and fishy, like 
that of some sea ducks. Very occa- 
sionally in winter, one finds single birds 
on the sandy beaches south of the 
A RARE CREVALLY FROM 
BERMUDA 
M ANY species of crevallys or jack- 
fishes (called trevallys in Aus- 
tralia) are found in the warm seas 
of the world. Several kinds are com- 
mon in Florida waters and two or three 
April 12 the nest was empty. What 
seemed, at the time, strange to me was 
the fact that the mother should have 
made her nest in such a place, as my two 
cats and a fox terrier had the run of the 
yard. I mentioned this fact to a friend 
of mine, a hunter and trapper, and he told 
me that the young of fur-bearing animals 
rocks. — J. T. N. 
TRACKS 
W ITH waning winter most animals 
are hungry and do a lot of prowl- 
ing around. Late snowfalls are 
everywhere criss-crossed by their tracks, 
and perhaps it is at this season that 
casual out-of-door persons are most apt 
to become interested in telling these 
tracks apart, following them up to learn 
what the wild creatures have been do- 
ing. One quickly learns to recognize the 
clean round-toed track of a cat from that 
of a small dog, and marvels at the num- 
ber of pussies abroad after dark and 
the extent of their wanderings. The 
differences between the track of squirrel 
and rabbit are soon learned, and the 
diagnostic mark left by the foot of the 
crow, once seen, is always remembered. 
But soon spring-time wipes off the slate, 
and who can recognize off-hand the 
tracks of a dozen of the commonest birds? 
If one has become sufficiently interested 
there is really abundant opportunity to 
study tracks at other seasons, along the 
muddy edges of the creeks, on the shore, 
in the dust of the road. Herewith we 
publish a photograph of the track of a 
large bird, widely distributed in North 
America. Can any of Forest and 
Stream’s readers recognize it? 
may be looked for as far North as our 
middle states in late summer or fall. The 
accompanying sketch is of a specimen 
about a foot long from Bermuda, re- 
cently presented to the American 
Museum of Natural History. It is Car- 
anx guara, which occurs in the Mediter- 
ranean, and this is the second individual 
recorded from Bermuda. But .strangely 
enough Caranx guara though it strays 
thus far to the west, is not known from 
our coast or from the West Indies. Fish- 
ermen should be on the look-out for it; if 
it does occasionally enter our region that 
fact should be known; if not, that too, is 
worth making sure of. 
THE COTTONTAIL 
I N the November issue of Forest and 
Stream I noticed a reply to E. E. W., 
of Des Moines, Iowa, so I will mention 
two incidents which came to my notice. 
April 10th, 1908, I was passing through 
the cow yard at my home and noticed 
some of my fowls making a fuss as if 
slightly scared, at the same time they 
were looking at the manure pile. I went 
to see what it was they saw, and found 
a nest of young cottontails on the east 
side of the pile: there were five of them 
and they were about the size of a man’s 
thumb. This was at 5:30 P. M. The 
next day they were still there, but on 
left no scent, neither did the mother when 
nursing them. 
At another time I was spading my gar- 
den (this was in May) over which I had 
scattered some coarse manure during the 
winter, and I dug up a nest of seven 
young cottontails: they were about the 
size of a man’s four fingers, bunched to- 
gether, and the nest was in a slight de- 
pression under a clod of manure. Both 
the above nests were lined with fur from 
the mother’s belly. 
G. A. C. C., Le Mars, Iowa. 
RABBIT ON HER NEST 
T HE behavior of an old rabbit about 
her nest has perhaps been observed 
often enough, but I do not remem- 
ber reading a description of it. 
Last summer (1919) on Staten Island, 
N. Y., while trimming grass with a 
sickle, I was surprised to come across a 
nest containing seven young cotton-tail 
rabbits about four feet from the brick 
foundation of our house. Later we no- 
ticed that the old rabbit was away from 
the nest during the day, leaving it com- 
pletely covered with dead grass and 
weeds. Towards dusk, as we watched 
from a window, we used to see her com- 
ing across the lawn, nibbling clover here 
and there, working nearer and nearer 
the nest. When she reached it she seemed 
to push the cover of grass aside with 
her nose and settle down with her body 
directly over the nest. In this position 
she would remain for a long time. When 
alarmed, as by the slamming of a door, 
she would leave very hurriedly, yet we 
always found the nest covered when she 
had gone. 
She was sometimes seen leaving the 
vicinity at daybreak, probably having 
made a visit to her young just before 
dawn. We showed the nest to many visi- 
tors, including children, and on these oc- 
casions carefully made an opening so as 
to view the contents of the nest. If a 
hand were* inserted the young rabbits 
invariably protested by “sneezing” or 
“spitting” and at the same time kicking 
and twitching violently. 
Howard H. Cleaves, Albany. 
Of what large bird is this the track? 
