the extensive shores of the Mexican Gulf. About the middle of March, however, their lively vociferations of pill-will-willet, pill-willwillet, begin commonly to be heard in all the marshes of the sea islands of Georgia and South Carolina. In the Middle States they arrive about the 15th of April, or sometimes later, according to the season; and from that period to the close of July, their loud and shrill cries, audible for half a mile, are heard incessantly throughout the marshes where they now reside.

OF THE SANDPIPERS IN GENERAL.

THE Sandpipers have a straight and slender bill, about an inch and a half long; small nostrils; and a slender tongue. The toes are divided, or are very slightly connected at the base by a membrane: the hinder toe is short and weak.

THE RUFF AND REEVE.

The Ruff is about a foot in length, with a bili about an inch long.

THE RUFF.

The face is covered with vellow pimples. A few of the feathers of the Ruff stand up over each eye, and appear not unlike ears. The colors of the Ruffs are in no two birds alike in general they are brownish, and barred with black; though some have been seen that were altogether white. The lower parts of the belly and the tail coverts

are white. The tail is tolerably long, having the four middle feathers barred with black; the others are pale brown. The legs are of a dull yellow, and the claws black. The female is smaller than the male and of a brown color.

The name of Ruff has been given to the male of this species, from the long feathers which stand out on the back part of the head and neck, and which remind a casual observer of the ruffs that were

worn by our ancestors. The female, which is called the Reeve, is destitute of this singular appendage.

The male bird does not acquire his ruff till the second season; and till that time he is in this respect like the female; as he is also annually from the end of June until the pairing season. After the time of incubation, the long feathers fall off, and the caruncles shrink in under the skin, so as not to be discerned.

The males are much more numerous than the females, and they have many severe contentions for their mates. The male chooses, near a splash of water, on some dry bank, a stand, round which he runs so often, as to make a bare circular path: the moment a female comes in sight, all the males within a certain distance commence a general battle; placing their bills to the ground, spreading the feathers of their neck, and using the same action as a Cock: and this opportunity is seized by the fowlers, who, in the confusion catch them, by means of nets, in great numbers.

An erroneous opinion prevails very generally, that Ruffs when in confinement must be fed in the dark, lest the admission of light should induce them to fight. The fact is, that every bird, even when kept in a room, takes its stand, as it would in the open air; and if another invade its circle a battle ensues. A whole room full of them may be set into fierce contest by compelling them to shift their stations; but, after the disturber has quitted the place, they have been observed to resume their circles, and become again pacific. In confinement, their quarrels usually originate in the pan containing their food not being sufficiently large enough to admit the whole party to feed, without touching each other. When the food has been divided into several pans, the birds have continued perfectly quiet.

The Reeves lay four eggs in a tuft of grass, about the beginning of May; and the young-ones are hatched in about a month. It is not known with certainty in what countries these birds pass the winter.

THE TURNSTONE.

The Turnstone is about the size of a Thrush; its bill is black, about an inch in length, and a little turned up at the end. The body is black, variously marked with white and rust-color on the upper parts; the breast and belly are white. The legs are short and orange-colored.

This bird is found on various parts of the English and Scottish coasts, and in North America. It has its name from its custom of turning over stones, in order to prey upon the insects and worms concealed beneath them.

When Mr. Catesby was on his voyage to North America, one of these birds, about forty leagues from the coast of Florida, flew on board the vessel. It was put into a cage, and showed much activity in turning up stones that were put to it; but not finding under them proper food it soon died. In this action it was observed to move

its

only the upper mandible of its bill, yet it was able, with great dexter

TURNSTONE.

ity and quickness, to turn over stones of three pounds weight.

The Turnstone makes its nest in the sand, and lays three or four olivecolored eggs, spotted with black. At the time of hatching, it has so much courage, as to attack both men and Dogs when they approach its nest.

The Dunlin or Red-backed Sandpiper of the United States, according

likewise inhabit Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Alps of Siberia, and the coasts of the Caspian. In the southern hemisphere, they sometimes even wander as far as the Cape of Good Hope; and are found in Jamaica, other of the West India Islands, and Cayenne. In the autumn they are seen around Vera Cruz, and with other Sandpipers probably, exposed for sale in the market of Mexico. At the same time, many, as the Purres in their winter dress, remain through the greatest part of the winter within the milder limits of the Union; frequenting, at times, in great numbers, the coasts of both Carolinas during the month of February; flitting, probably, to and fro with every vaccillating change of temperature, being naturally vagabond, and nowhere fixed for any considerable time, until their arrival at the

WILSON'S SANDPIPER.

735

ultima thule of the continent, where they barely stay long enough to rear a single brood, destined, as soon as they are able, to wander with the rest, and swell the aerial host, whose sole delight, like the untiring Petrels of the storm, or the ambitious Albatross, is to be in perpetual action; and are thus, by their associated numbers, obliged perpetually to rove in quest of their transient, periodical, and varying

prey.

In the middle States, the Dunlins arrive on their way to the north, in April and May; and in September and October, they are again seen pursuing the route to their hybernal retreat in the south. At these times they often mingle with the flocks of other strand birds, from which they are distinguishable by the rufous color of their upper plumage. They frequent the muddy flats and shores of the salt marshes, at the recess of the tide, feeding on the worms, insects and minute shell-fish which such places generally afford. They are also very nimble on the strand, frequenting the sandy beaches which bound the ocean, running and gleaning up their prey with great activity, on the reflux of the

waves.

WILSON'S SANDPIPER.

This small, and nearly resident species, may be considered as the most common and abun

dant in America, inhabiting the shores and marshes of the whole continent, both to the north and south of the equator; retiring probably, with the inclemency of the season, indifferently, from either frigid circle, towards the warmer and more hospitable regions within the tropics. They are consequently seen, spring

WILSON'S SANDPIPER.

and autumn, in all the markets of the Union, as well as in those of the West Indies, Vera Cruz, and in the interior as far as Mexico. Captain Cook also found them on the opposite side of the continent, frequenting the shores of Nootka Sound. The great mass of their pigmy host retire to breed within the desolate lands of the Arctic circle, where, about the 20th of May, or as soon as the snow begins to melt, and the rigors of the long and nocturnal winter relax, they are again seen to return to the shores and swampy borders of their native lakes, in the inclement parallel of 66°. Though shy and quailing on their first arrival, with many other aërial passengers of like habits, they contribute to give an air of life and activity, to these most dreary, otherwise desolate, and inhospitable regions of the earth. Endowed

with different wants and predilections from the preceding hosts, whose general livery they wear, they never seemingly diverge in their passage so far to the eastward as to visit Greenland, and the contiguous extremity of northern Europe, being unknown in the other continent; and migrating always towards the south, they have thickly peopled almost every part of the country that gave them birth.

The Peeps as they are here called, are seen in the salt marshes around Boston, as early as the 8th of July; indeed, so seldom are they absent from us in the summer season, that they might be taken for denizens of the State, or the neighboring countries, did we not know that they repair, at an early period of the spring, to their breeding resorts in the distant north; and that, as yet, numerous and familiar as they are, the nest, and history of their incubation, is wholly unknown.

When they arrive, now and then accompanied by the semipalmated species, the air is sometimes, as it were, clouded with their flocks. Companies led from place to place, in quest of food, are seen whirling suddenly in circles, with a desultory flight, at a distance resembling a swarm of hiving Bees, seeking out some object on which to settle. At this time, deceiving them by an imitation of their sharp and querulous whistle, the fowler approaches, and adds destruction to the confusion of their timorous and restless flight. Flocking together for common security, the fall of their companions, and their plaintive cry, excites so much sympathy among the harmless Peeps, that, forgeting their own safety, or not well perceiving the cause of the fatality, which the gun spreads among them, they fall sometimes into such a state of confusion, as to be routed with but little effort, until the greedy sportsman is glutted with his timorous and infatuated game. When much disturbed, they however, separate into small and wandering parties, where they are now seen gleaning their fare of larvæ, worms, minute shell-fish, and insects in the salt marshes, or on the muddy and sedgy shores of tide rivers and ponds. At such times they may be very nearly approached, betraying rather a heedless familiarity, than a timorous mistrust of their most wily enemy; and even when rudely startled, they will often return to the same place in the next instant, to pursue their lowly occupation of scooping in the mud, and hence 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 probed 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 hidden retreats, the larvæ 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, short and monotonous whistle, like the word peet, or péep 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 the Peeps will descend amongst them, being generally allowed to feed in quiet; and on the approach of the sportsman, these little timorous