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SOLITARY SANDPIPER.
TOTANUS CHLOROPYGIUS, VlEILL.
P L A T E C C L X X X I X . MALE.
THE only nest of this bird that I ever met with was placed in aw elevated
part of the woods near Bayou Sara, on the margin of a small pond
scarcely ten yards broad, overgrown with low bushes, and cumbered with
fallen branches of trees. It was formed of grass and withered leaves, arranged
without much care, and contained three eggs. Both birds were greatly
disconcerted, ran round me, and frequently alighted on the twigs and
branches with ail the nimbleness of land birds, constantly throwing their
heads forward and vibrating their body and tail in the manner of the Louisiana
Water Thrush. The eggs measured one inch one eighth and a half in
length, seven and a half eighths in breadth ; the colour was greenish-yellow,
with spots and patches of umber, more abundant around the crown,
where the larger marks formed a conspicuous circle. I carried one of the
eggs home, and, on returning a few days after to the spot, found one of
the birds sitting, which proved to me that the great anxiety shewn at my
first visit was chiefly because the female was about to lay her last egg.
The male was absent, nor did it shew itself during my stay. About a
fortnight after I found the wings of one of the birds near the place : the
eggs also were gone ; and I concluded that some quadruped, probably a
racoon, had committed the havock. No bird of this species was in the
neighbourhood.
In the Fauna Boreali-Americana, Dr RICHARDSON says that in high
northern latitudes these birds deposit their eggs on the bare sand, which is
another proof in addition to the many already given, that great differences
as to the mode of nestling may exist in the same species in different parts of
the country. Indeed, almost all the habits of this curious bird differ according
to the locality. In the Southern States, they are particularly fond
of low flat lands among deep woods and cane brakes, and rarely approach
ponds of any great extent, but prefer those which are small and most secluded.
In the Middle Districts I have found them along the Leighhigh,
and in watery places both on low and on elevated ground. In the
State of Maine they frequented similar localities. In the prairies of In-
S O L I T A R Y S A N D P I P E R. 577
diana I have seen them in early spring, during rainy weather, wading and
running through the water, on the very foot-path before me, for eight or
ten yards at a time. When flushed, they would fly in a semicircle close
over the ground, and re-alight at the distance of a hundred yards or so on
the same path. Not one of the species was observed in Labrador or Newfoundland
by my party ; and my friend THOMAS MACCULLOCH informs
me that only a few single birds are seen near Pictou, and that in autumn,
when they keep in marshy grounds in the neighbourhood of the sea.
The flight of the Solitary Sandpiper is swift and protracted. It moves
in a zigzag manner, and at times makes its way through the woods with
surprising ease, seldom leaving the starting place without uttering a clear
and pleasant tweet. In re-alighting it pitches downwards like the Common
Snipe. On the ground they are very active, and at times so indifferent
to the approach of man, that they will merely fly across or around
a small pond for a considerable time, and, if shot at and not touched,
they will be sure to be found in the same place a few hours after. Its
alighting on trees has often appeared to me as singular as that of Bartram's
Snipe and the Semipalmated species. The Solitary Snipe is, however,
the most expert at catching insects on the wing, especially the smaller
kinds of dragon-flies, which it chases from the sticks on which they alight,
and generally seizes before they have flown across the little ponds, which are
the favourite place of resort of this species. I have found their stomachs
filled with aquatic insects, caterpillars of various kinds, and black spiders
of considerable size.
I consider this bird to be a constant resident in the United States,
although it ranges over a great space in summer and winter. Scarcely
any difference is observable in the sexes; and I am of opinion that the
young acquire their full plumage the first spring.
To TAN us CHLOHOPYGIUS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States,
p. 325.—Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 3 9 3 .
SOLITARY SANDPIPER, TRINGA SOLITARIA, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vii. p. 5 3 . pL 5 8 .
fig. 3 .
GREEN-RUMP TATLER, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 1 5 9 .
Adult Male. Plate CCLXXXIX. Fig. 1.
Bill a little longer than the head, very slender, subcylindrical, straight,
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