The last egg deposited, the female, on the day thereafter, enters the nest, and commences the duty of incubation. She is not necessarily a very close sitter, especially when her nest is located in a sandy soil, as the heated sand has doubtless much to do with the development of the young. During inclement weather, protection is absolutely essential; consequently, one bird or the other must occupy it, by turns, until the necessity has passed.
While one is incubating, it does not appear that her partner is compelled to play the part of a purveyor of food. Careful examinations have never enabled us to detect the least evidence thereof. When either party is tired, or is severely pressed by hunger, the other is summoned to the spot, to receive the charge of affairs. Thus the business goes on for eighteen weary days, when the happy parents are blessed with a jolly little family.
The young are not the mere helpless creatures such as we have all along been describing, but as active beings, for the age, as it is possible to conceive of. Clad in silken robes of drab, with beautiful stripes of black adown the back, they constitute a merry, rollicking group of birdies. The world to them is a paradise of beauty, and a garden-spot of pleasure. As soon as they leave the shell, they run with remarkable speed, and otherwise exhibit a precocity which seems unnatural at that period of life. Feeding, like running, is instinctive. It cannot be that it is learned by imitation, any more than the exercise of the cursorial powers can be said to be thus acquired.
Although much of the trouble and care which birds generally bestow upon their offspring are thus saved to these fortunate parents, yet the power to discriminate between bad and good food, has to be learned by attention to the commands and actions of wiser heads. The young are not slow to profit from parental suggestions and instruction, for we find them, at the expiration of a fortnight, engaged in foraging with the judgment and adroitness of adults.
Few species exhibit symptoms of greater distress than these Sandpipers when their breeding-grounds are approached by human beings. The parents resort to every conceivable stratagem in order to draw the intruders away. Counterfeiting lameness, and fluttering along the ground with seeming difficulty, are two of the most characteristic devices which they practise for this purpose. But the appearance of a dog considerably heightens the agitation. It is very interesting to watch the actions of the female on such occasions. In order to lead him away from her terrified young, she throws herself before him, flutters away in a contrary direction, but always managing to keep out of the reach of danger. This she continues for some time, until the animal has been drawn to a considerable distance, when she throws off the garb of dissimulation, and takes to flight, leaving her pursuer standing stock-still and gazing with astonishment and disappointment at the remarkable transformation which has just been effected. While all this has been going on, the young have scurried away to places of shelter and security, where they are afterwards joined by their beloved parent, glad to have escaped so fearful a calamity, and grateful for such a happy deliverance.
A more substantial proof of the affection of this female for its young could hardly be imagined than that which Wilson gives on the authority of Mr. William Bartram. The scene of action is described as being on the river shore, and the occasion, the repeated attempts made by a ground squirrel to capture two young birds which a parent was trying to defend. In order to ward off the assaults of the squirrel, she had thrown her two young behind her. At every attempt of the animal to seize them by a circuitous sweep, she would raise her wings almost perpendicularly, assume the most formidable expression of which she was capable, rush forward upon the squirrel, who, intimidated by the boldness of her manner, would beat a precipitate retreat. The enemy, recovering from his defeat, would presently return, and renew the attack, but to be ingloriously driven back as before. The young, as though sensible of their perilous situation, would crowd together behind their protector, and shift their position as she advanced or retreated. This interesting scene continued for at least ten minutes, when the strength of the poor parent was observed to flag. The squirrel perceiving his advantage, became more daring, increased the frequency of his assaults, and would have gained an easy victory had not Mr. Bartram stepped forward from his hiding-place and drove him back to his hole, and thus rescued the innocent.
The eggs of this species are usually abruptly pyriform, of a yellowish-buff ground-color, and are marked with blotches and spots of umber and sienna, which are collected chiefly about the greater extremity, where they are sometimes confluent. Occasionally, some specimens present a more elongated form, and others have the primary color of a yellowish-drab tint, with the markings of a deeper shade. The dimensions vary somewhat in a large collection from widely-separated localities. The largest measure 1.41 by .99 of an inch, and the smallest 1.25 by .94. Considering the size of the bird, they seem to be out of all proportion.
