192 
CHARADRIIFORMES 
261. Upland Plover, bartramian sandpiper. quaily, la maubIiche des 
champs. Bartramia longicauda. L, 1 1 • 50. Plate XXIII B. A rather large, ochraceous 
shore bird inhabiting the upland fields and prairies. 
Distinctions. About the size of a Greater Yellow- 
legs, strongly ochraeeous in colour, with a bill rather 
shorter than the head. It can hardly be confused with 
any other species. The first primaries are saw-toothed 
marked with dark on a ground of white (Figure 274). 
The much larger Long-billed and Hudsonian Curlews 
are the only other shore birds with this wing-quill saw- 
toothing ( See Figures 270, 271), but the ground colour 
is buff instead of white. 
Field Marks. A rather large, ^ buff-coloured wader 
with bill about as long as head,' much smaller than 
either the curlews or the godwits. Unlike other shore 
birds, it inhabits high ground. On the ground it has a 
short-legged, round-headed appearance and an action 
that suggests a young Prairie Chicken rather than a 
wader. 
Distribution. North and South America. Breeding 
irregularly and locally across the continent, from far 
south of the border north to Alaska and southern 
Mackenzie. 
Though the name “plover” is commonly 
accepted, this species is a true sandpiper, 
aberrant in habit, having deserted the shores 
and mud-flats for the dry uplands. The 
term Bartramian Sandpiper is a more satis- 
factory name, honouring a great ornithologist and expressing the true 
relationship of the bird. It is one of the most attractive of the prairie 
inhabitants. It has long, loud, clear whistles, variously modulated, which 
Figure 273 
Upland Plover; scale, \. 
Figure 274 
First primary of Upland Plover, from below; natural size. 
it gives in the spring and early summer. Sometimes these notes are 
accompanied by a remarkable dance flight; at other times they are given 
from the ground or some slight elevation such as the top of a fence post, 
where, with wings raised over the back, it poses in statuesque grace. It 
is a confirmed grasshopper destroyer and is probably worth much more in 
that capacity than as an article of food. 
263. Spotted Sandpiper, pewit, peet-weet. teeter, tip-up. la maubeche 
tachet^e (Alouette branle-queue). Aditis rnacularia. L, 7-50. Plate XXIV A. 
Distinctions. Adults have decidedly round breast spots and a slight greenish lustre 
on the back. • Young autumn birds resemble the Solitary, but are distinguished by white 
instead of barred axillars (Compare with Figure 276). 
Field Marks. Size and distinct round spots on breast. When flying it may be dis- 
tinguished from the Solitary Sandpiper, which it most resembles, by the white line along 
the ends of the secondaries and the much smaller amount of black and white barring on 
