The Bartramian Sandpiper is the most truly terrestrial of its tribe with which I am acquainted. It is even more inclined, at all seasons, to keep away from the water, than the Kildeer Plover, which may often be seen wading in shallow pools, or searching along the sandy or muddy margins of the shores of the sea, or of fresh-water lakes and streams. Although not unfrequently met with in the vicinity of such places, it never ventures to wade into them; and yet the form and length of its legs and feet would naturally induce a person not acquainted with its habits to consider it as a wading bird.
The dry upland plains of those sections of Louisiana called Opellousas and Attacapas, are amply peopled with this species in early spring, as well as in autumn. They arrive there from the vast prairies of Texas and Mexico, where they spend the winter, in the beginning of March, or about the period of the first appearance of the Martins, Hirundo purpurea, and return about the first of August. They are equally abundant on all the western prairies on either side of the Missouri, where, however, they arrive about a month later than in Louisiana, whence they disperse over the United States, reaching the middle districts early in May, and the State of Maine by the middle of that month, or about the same period at which they are seen in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Some proceed as far north as the plains adjoining the Saskatchewan River, where Dr Richardson met with this species in the month of May.
It has been supposed that the Bartramian Sandpiper never forms large flocks, but this is not correct, for in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, where it is called the “Papabote,” it usually arrives in great bands in spring, and is met with on the open plains and large grassy savannahs, where it generally remains about two weeks, though sometimes individuals may be seen as late as the 15th of May. I have observed the same circumstances on our western prairies, but have thought that they were afterwards obliged to separate into small flocks, or even into pairs, as soon as they are ready to seek proper places for breeding in, for I have seldom found more than two pairs with nests or young in the same field or piece of ground. On their first arrival, they are generally thin, but on their return southward, in the beginning of August, when they tarry in Louisiana until the first of October, they are fat and juicy. I have observed, that in spring, when they are poor, they are usually much less shy than in autumn, when they are exceedingly wary and difficult of approach; but this general observation is not without exceptions, and the difference, I think, depends on the nature of the localities in which they happen to be found at either period. When on newly ploughed fields, which they are fond of frequenting, they see a person at a greater distance than when they are searching for food among the slender grasses of the plains. I have also thought that the size of the flocks may depend upon similar contingencies, for this bird is by no means fond of the society of man.
Like the Spotted Sandpiper, Totanus macularius, they not unfrequently alight on fences, trees, and out-houses; but whether in such situations or on the ground, they seldom settle without raising both wings upright to their full extent, and uttering their loud and prolonged, but pleasing notes. They run with great activity, stop suddenly, and vibrate their body once or twice. When earnestly followed by the sportsman, they lower their heads in the manner of Wilson’s Plover, and the species called the Piping, and run off rapidly, or squat, according to the urgency of the occasion. At other times, they partially extend their wings, run a few steps as if about to fly, and then cunningly move off sideways, and conceal themselves among the grass, or behind a clod. You are not unfrequently rendered aware of your being within sight of them, by unexpectedly hearing their plaintive and mellow notes, a circumstance, however, which I always concluded to be indicative of the wariness of their disposition, for although you have just heard those well-known cries, yet, on searching for the bird, you nowhere see it, for the cunning creature has slipped away and hid itself. When wounded in the wing, they run to a great distance, and are rarely found.
Like all experienced travellers, they appear to accommodate themselves to circumstances as regards their food, for in Louisiana, they feed on cantharides and other coleopterous insects; in Massachusetts on grasshoppers, on which my friend Nuttall says, they soon grow very fat; in the Carolinas on crickets and other insects, as well as the seeds of the crab-grass, Digitaria sanguinaria; and in the barrens of Kentucky they often pick the strawberries. Those which feed much on cantharides, require to be very carefully cleaned, otherwise persons eating them are liable to suffer severely. Several gentlemen of New Orleans have assured me, that they have seen persons at dinner obliged to leave the room at once, under such circumstances, which cannot well be described here. When flavoured with the ripe strawberries, on which they have fed, their flesh is truly delicious.
This species performs its migrations by night as well as by day. Its flight is rather swift and well sustained. While travelling, it generally flies so high as to be beyond reach of the gun: but if the weather be cloudy, or if it blow hard, it flies lower, and may easily be shot. It generally proceeds in straggling bands, and moves along with continuous easy beats of the wings, but sails, as it were, when about to alight, as well as during the love season.
As long ago as 1805 and 1806, I observed this species breeding in the meadows and green-fields of my plantation of Millgrove, near the banks of Perkioming Creek. Since then, I have known of its rearing broods in different parts of Pennsylvania, in the State of New York, and in various districts to the eastward as far as the confines of Maine; but I did not find it in Newfoundland or Labrador; and I have reason to believe that it does not breed to the south of Maryland.
My friend, the Rev. Dr Bachman, has informed me that the Bartramian Sandpiper makes its appearance in South Carolina about the 15th of July, the hottest period of the year, in considerable numbers, betakes itself at once to the high grassy lands, and there remains about a month. He considers it to be then on its return from the north, and states that it is very fat and affords delicious food. His manner of shooting them is, to ride in a chair or gig over the fields which they frequent, or along the roads in their neighbourhood, by which means they can be approached near enough to enable the sportsman to shoot with almost a certainty of success, as the bird rises out of the grass. If one attempts to get near them on foot, they rise at too great a distance, then sweep in circles over the spot, and alight a considerable way off. They are seldom met with there in flocks of more than four or five individuals.
I have found the eggs of this bird laid on the bare earth, in a hollow scooped out to the depth of about an inch and a half, near the roots of a tuft of rank grass, in the middle of a meadow, and seen some nests of the same species formed of loosely arranged grasses, and placed almost beneath low bushes growing on poor elevated ridges, furnished with a scanty vegetation. I have also heard my esteemed young friend, John Trudeau, state that he had discovered one on a high part of the bank of the Delaware River. When disturbed while on its nest, but unobserved, it runs thirty or forty yards, and then flies off as if severely wounded. Should it have young, its attempts to decoy you away are quite enough to induce you to desist from harassing it. The eggs measure an inch and five and a half eighths, by an inch and a quarter in their greatest breadth. In form they resemble those of Totanus macularius, being broadly rounded at one end, and rather pointed at the other; their surface smooth; their ground colour dull greyish-yellow, with numerous spots of light purple and reddish-brown. They are placed in the nest in the same manner as those of the Spotted Sandpiper, that is, with the smaller ends together, which is also the case with those of the Tell-tale Godwit, Wilson’s Plover, and the Kildeer Plover. The young, which run about immediately after exclusion, grow rapidly, and in about a month are able to use their wings, after which, they and their parents gradually, and according to the temperature of the season, move southward.
In Massachusetts, and to the eastward of that state, this species is best known by the name of “Upland Plover,” and in some other districts it is named the Field Plover. The drawing from which the plate was engraved was taken from individuals shot near Bayou Sara, in the State of Mississippi.