The Spotted Sandpiper 
203 
and had green legs instead of yellowish ones ; they were also quieter in 
voice and manner than the latter. 
During the last half of I\Iay at Chautauqua we are likely to happen 
on early nests of the Spotted Sandpiper. The site most likely to be se- 
lected by this bird is under a bunch of weeds, or in the shelter of coarse 
grass, a few vards or rods back from the shore of a 
O' ^ Nesting* 
pond or stream ; but often the chosen spot will be in Resorts 
a moist pasture, or even in a field of potatoes or 
corn. Time and again I have found nests on islands, both in lakes 
and in the ocean, sometimes a dozen or twenty on one islet. 
Some nests are concealed very carefully, amid thick foliage, while 
others are merely in the shade of some straggling weed. The best con- 
cealment for the eggs is afforded by the demure little brownish mother- 
bird whose plumage blends perfectly with the color of the ground as she 
sits motionless upon her treasure ; but let one walk too close, and away 
she goes, uttering her shrill pect-weet alarm. Then the secret is out, and 
the trespasser may examine the four eggs, large for the size of the bird, 
whose creamy- white background is plentifully sprinkled with dark brown 
spots, especially at the larger end. 
One day, early in June, my wife and son were following an over- 
grown cart-path, just in from the bank of the river, when they flushed 
one of these Sandpipers from a nest with four eggs situated under a 
small clump of weeds. Close to it was a pile of slag Photographing 
and rock, dumped from an old foundry many years ^ Sandpiper 
before. It seemed to me, when I examined it, an 
ideal place to secure photographs of the bird on her nest. 
So I piled slag and weed over the camera, and, connecting a thread 
with the shutter, I hid myself behind a thicket of bushes some fifteen 
yards off. In a few moments the little Sandpiper appeared, trotting about 
and jerking her body, I thought, even more nervously than usual. She 
hesitated for some minutes till she felt assured that I had gone. Then 
she walked straight to her nest, going within a foot or two of the camera, 
which she failed to notice at all, so well was it concealed. When she 
reached the eggs she settled over them at once, bristling her feathers and 
pushing her treasures with bill and wings this way and that till everything 
was arranged to her satisfaction. Then came my chance, and I pulled 
Baby 
Sandpipers 
and afterwards I 
the thread gently, taking her picture. Even the 
slight click of the shutter sent her off in a hurry, but 
she came back several times for me, and then I left 
her in peace. She safely brought off her young, 
met them scurrying along the margin of the river. 
As with all baby shore-birds, the young Spotted Sandpipers are 
quaint and amusing. They look like tufts of cotton stuck up on tooth- 
picks as they race over the sand, attempting to escape when discovered. 
First, though, when a stranger approaches, they squat flat on the shore, 
or hide in the grass. The parents throw themselves on the ground before 
