284 
LITTLE SANDPIPER. 
lowly occupation of scraping in tlie mud, whence probably, originated the 
contemptible appellation of Humility , by which they and some other small 
birds of similar habits have been distinguished. For the discovery of their 
food, their flexible and sensitive awl-like bills are thrust into the mire, 
marshy soil, or wet sand, in the manner of the Snipe and Woodcock, and in 
this way they discover and rout from their hiding retreat, the larvas and 
soft worms which form a principal part of their fare. At other times, they 
also give chase to insects, and pursue their calling with amusing alacrity. 
When at length startled, or about to join the company they have left, a 
sharp and monotonous whistle, like the word peet, or peep, is uttered, and 
they instantly take to wing, and course along with the company they had 
left. On seeing the larger marsh-birds feeding, as the Yellow-shanks and 
others, a whirling flock of thq Peeps will descend among them, being 
generally allowed to feed in quiet ; and at the approach of the sportsman, 
these little timorous rovers are ready to give the alarm. At first, a slender 
peep is heard, which is then followed by two or three others, and presently 
peep, pip, pip ’ p’ p murmurs in a lisping whistle through the quailing 
ranks, as they rise on the wing, and inevitably entice with them their larger 
but less watchful associates. Towards evening in fine weather, the marshes 
almost re-echo with the shrill but rather murmuring or lisping, subdued, and 
querulous call of peet, and then a repetition of pedee, pedee, dee-dee , 
which seems to be the collecting cry of the old birds calling together their 
brood, for, when assembled, the note changes into a confused murmur of 
peet, peet, attended by a short and suppressed whistle.” 
During my never-to-be-forgotten residence at Henderson, on the banks of 
the fair Ohio. I was in the habit of frequently seeing large flocks of these 
birds on the sandy shores of that river, during the autumnal months, and 
finding after awhile that they could easily be driven into a partridge net, I 
laid one accordingly on several occasions when, by using gentle means, I 
induced many a dozen of these tiny, fat, and delicious birds to enter and 
become prisoners. I clipped the wings of many of them, and turned them 
loose in my garden, for the purpose of studying their habits in this sort of 
half-confined state ; but they were all soon destroyed by those most 
destructive pests, the Norway rats, which at that time infested all my 
premises. 
I found these birds quite abundant on the whole coast of Florida, during 
winter, and I have no doubt that many remain with us all the year ; indeed, 
it w r ould not at all surprise me to hear that some of them actually breed in 
parts of the alpine districts of our Middle States. I have also found them 
equally numerous along the whole coast of the Gulf of Mexico, during my 
recent visit to Texas, when, late in April, some of them were still travelling 
