Plate XLV. 
Fig. 1. TRWGOIOES M/tCUURIUS-Spotled Sandpiper. 
The Spotted Sandpiper arrives about the 15th of April. Two weeks later many of them have se- 
lected sites for their nests, and perhaps with a few exceptions oviposition has commenced. Two broods 
are frequently, if not usually, reared by each pair during the season. Early iu September they depart for 
their winter home. 
LOCALITY : 
The locality chosen is always near water; either a lake, river, creek, canal, or pond. Often a 
pair will build their nest in an upland field beside a small artificial pool made for watering stock. It is 
immaterial what the character of the surrounding country is. As a rule, the nest is placed in a ploughed 
field, or upon the sand or gravel along a river or creek, unprotected by any vegetation. Sometimes it is 
among young willows and weeds, or even occasionally in grass. Once I found a nest in a piece of woods, 
near a little pond only a few yards square. 
POSITION: 
The nest is always upon the ground; either in a natural depression or in a slight concavity scratched 
for the purpose. Sometimes quite a neat little excavation is made. 
MATERIALS : 
Small sticks, bits of weed-stems, blades of grass, slender strips of corn-husks, and like materials 
are sometimes used as a lining to the concavity. But frequently no materials are carried by the build- 
ers, the eggs being deposited upon the bare ground, or upon whatever natural covering there is to the 
chosen spot. When the selected site is Vpon a gravel-covered shore, the eggs often rest upon pebbles, 
and, being surrounded by stones nearly tlielr size, are very difficult to discern. No measurements can be 
given because the outlines are uncertain. 
EGGS: 
Four eggs are nearly always deposited in the first set. They are arranged with their points together, 
so as to occupy the least possible space. In the second set, sometimes only three are laid. The ground- 
color is smokv-buff of an indescribable shade. There is but slight variation in color in specimens of dif- 
ferent sots. The markings consist of blotches, spots, and speckles of brown, varying in different eggs 
from a light tint of Yandyke-brown to the darkest of sepia. Some eggs are uniformly and thickly spotted 
and speckled. Some have several large blotches of color with spots and specks between, while others, 
and this is the commonest pattern, have bold spots and speckles of various shades, increasing in size 
and number from the point to the base. The deep shell-marks arc bluish, and vary greatly in number 
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