250 
BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. 
on which my friend Nuttall says, they soon grow very fat ; in the Caro 
linason crickets and other insects, as well as on the seeds of the crab-grass. 
Digitaria sanguinaria; and in the barrens of Kentucky they often pick the 
strawberries. Those which feed much on cantharides, require to be very 
carefully cleaned, otherwise persons eating them are liable to suffer severely. 
Several gentlemen of New Orleans have assured me, that they have seen 
persons at dinner obliged to leave the room at once, under such circum 
stances as cannot well be described here. When flavoured with the ripe 
strawberries, on which they have fed, their flesh is truly delicious. 
This species performs its migrations by night as well as by day. Its flight 
is rather swift and well sustained. While travelling, it generally flies so 
high as to be beyond reach of the gun : but if the weather be cloudy, or if 
it blow hard, it flies lower, and may easily be shot. It generally proceeds 
in straggling bands, and moves along with continuous easy beats of the 
wings, but sails, as it were, when about to alight, as well as during the 
love-season. 
As long ago as 1805 and 1800, I observed this species breeding in the 
meadows and green-fields of my plantation of Millgrove, near the banks of 
Perkioming creek. Since then, I have known of its rearing broods in dif- 
ferent parts of Pennsylvania, in the State of New York, and in various 
districts to the eastward as far as the confines of Maine ; but I did not find 
it in Newfoundland or Labrador ; and I Yave reason to believe that it doe3 
not, breed to the south of Maryland. 
My friend, the Rev. Dr. Bachman, has informed me that the Bartramian 
Sandpiper makes its appearance in South Carolina about the 15th of July, 
the hottest period of the year, in considerable numbers, betakes itself at 
once to the high grassy lands, and there remains about a month. He con- 
siders it to be then on its return from the north, and states that it is very 
fat and affords delicious food. His manner of shooting them is, to ride in 
a chair or gig over the fields which they frequent, or along the roads in 
their neighbourhood, by which means they can be approached near enough 
to enable the sportsman to shoot with almost a certainty of success, as the 
bird rises out of the grass. If one attempts to get near them on foot, they 
rise at too great a distance, then sweep in circles over the spot, and alight 
a considerable way off. They are seldom met with there in flocks of more 
than four or five individuals. 
I have found the eggs of this bird laid on the bare earth, in a hollow 
scooped out to the depth of about an inch and a half, near the roots of a tuft 
of rank grass, in the middle of a meadow, and seen some nests of the same 
species formed of loosely arranged grasses, and placed almost beneath low 
bushes growing on poor elevated ridges, furnished with a scanty vegetation. 
