668 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
Family Scolopacidae: Sandpiper 
Spotted Sandpiper: Actitis macularia 
Teeter; Tip-up 
Length: 7.50 inches. 
Male and Female: Slender, flesh-color bill, black tipped, longer than 
the head. Above Quaker-gray, with an iridescent lustre, spotted 
and streaked with black. White eye line. White below, dotted 
with black; feet flesh-colored. More dull throughout in winter. 
Note: A gentle “ peet-weet — peet-weet ! ” 
Season: Common summer resident. 
Breeds: Throughout temperate North America. 
Nest and eggs: Resembling last species. 
This is the familiar little bird of roadside brooks and 
moist meadows, where the marsh marigold of spring is fol- 
lowed by the cardinal flower and gentian of autumn. 
The Spotted Sandpiper possesses all the delicacy and beauty 
of a song bird, and it seems as much an act of cruelty to hunt 
it down for sport as if it was a Thrush or Oriole. It does not 
live in flocks. 
TO A TIP-UP 
Slim unbalanced bird 
A-tip upon the sands, 
Here’s a friendly word, 
A mental shaking-hands. 
Ludicrous enough, 
But not more so than I ; 
Of such teet’ring stuff 
Is all mortality. 
— John Vance Cheney 
ORDER HERODIONES : HERONS, ETC 
Family Ardeidae: Herons, Bitterns, Etc. 
Great Blue Heron : Ardea herodias. S. R. 
Blue Crane 
Length: 42-50 inches. 
Male and Female: Long, black crest, the two longest feathers of which 
are shed in the summer moult. Upper parts and tail bluish slate, 
below black and white streaked, forehead and crown white. 
Feathers about neck long and loose. Bill yellow and dusky ; legs 
and feet dark. This Heron can be recognized by its great size 
and bluish slate back ; it is not distinctly blue at all. 
Season: Common, nearly resident, may breed. (Averill.) 
Breeds: Locally through range. 
Nest: Usually a rude pile of sticks in a tree. 
Eggs : 3, large, and of a dull bluish green. 
