V °i8 < X V ] Clarke, Habits of the Solitary Sandpiper. 3 2 9 
any doubt about its identity, and it was easily classified as 
the Solitary Sandpiper. We watched it for some time, as 
it flew about, but its silence was remarkable, and in marked 
contrast to the noisy demonstrations of the Bratramian Sand- 
piper which had been disturbed. A glance at the eggs showed 
that we had a rarity. In the first place the number, five, in 
a Sandpiper’s nest was a new experience, and the peculiar 
coloring and markings were interesting. The eggs when collected 
had the peculiar dark reddish ground color so frequently noticed 
in fresh specimens of the Bartramian Sandpiper, but like them 
soon lost this characteristic tint. Faint purple shell markings 
gave a pleasing contrast, but the grotesque brown figurings, 
somewhat similar in shape to those found on the eggs of the 
Purple Crackle, remain as the striking feature. These grotesque 
markings exist on three of the specimens. A comparison made 
with a large series of the eggs of the Spotted Sandpiper reveals 
the following differences : Solitary Sandpiper’s differ from them 
in shape, size, ground color and markings. 
In the eggs of the Spotted Sandpiper the markings are gener- 
ally much thicker at the upper ends ; in the eggs of the Solitary 
Sandpiper the reverse is the case. The variations in shape in 
the set of the Solitary Sandpiper found, are somewhat remark- 
able as the measurements show. Incubation was well advanced, 
thus showing that the Bartramian had not been the first to 
commence nest building. The location of the nest was in a 
hilly field probably seventy-five yards from Lake Ontario. The 
measurements of the eggs are as follows: — 1.39 x .95, inches, 
I.32X.94, 1.30X.97, 1.30 X. 94, I.29X.95. 
Algonquin Park, which is reserved by the Ontario Government for the 
protection of game. The whole of the southern branch of the Petewawa 
was investigated, and -nearly everywhere the Solitary Sandpiper was 
encountered, singly, and in small flocks, the flocks consisting invariably 
•of two parent birds and this season’s young. On the 4th of August the 
young were more than half grown, and able to fly well. Although the 
Sandpipers were so easily -approached in this unfrequented district, that 
it was a simple matter to identify them, still in order to leave no doubt, a 
specimen (adult) was taken from one of the flocks. No Spotted Sand- 
pipers were seen. 
The Petewawa district is extremely rich in Warblers, many of the rarer 
ones undoubtedly breeding there, but among the common birds it was 
interesting to find the Maryland Yellow-throat. A brood of Hermit 
Thrushes was seen, and the Great Horned Owl was extremely common. 
Near Renfrew, ninety miles north of Kingston, Bartramian Sandpipers 
(. Bartramia longicauda) were noted in the fields. I have now traced this 
bird in Eastern Ontario over a region nearly a hundred miles square. 
— C. K. Clarke, M. D., Rockvjood Hospital , Kingston , Ontario . 
Auk, XVIII, Jan., 1901, p, / / z- 
57 
