. A popular handbook of the ornithology of the United States and Canada, based on Nuttall's Manual . of whicha specimen has been obtained near Philadelphia in May, andanother in the State of New York. As yet we have never metwith it in this vicinity. The Swimming Sandpiper, as this bird has been called, — aname that describes it precisely, — is restricted chiefly to the inte-rior, though stragglers have been taken on the shores of New Eng-land and the Provinces. It is now known to breed abundantly inIllinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Dakota, and northward to theSaskatchewan valley. In winter the f
. A popular handbook of the ornithology of the United States and Canada, based on Nuttall's Manual . of whicha specimen has been obtained near Philadelphia in May, andanother in the State of New York. As yet we have never metwith it in this vicinity. The Swimming Sandpiper, as this bird has been called, — aname that describes it precisely, — is restricted chiefly to the inte-rior, though stragglers have been taken on the shores of New Eng-land and the Provinces. It is now known to breed abundantly inIllinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Dakota, and northward to theSaskatchewan valley. In winter the flocks range to Brazil andPatagonia. In habits the bird more closely resembles the Sandpipers thandoes its congeners, seldom swimming except when wounded, andwading knee-deep to glean its food. The female, however, withtrue Phalaropian scorn for the proprieties, manages her courtship,— and manages too her reluctant lover, — and after a brief — verybrief — honeymoon, she resigns charge of domestic arrangementsto her henpecked partner, who meekly sits on the eggs until theyare COMMON TERN. WILSONS TERN. SEA SWALLOW. SUMMER GULL. MACKEREL GULL. Sterna hirundo. Char. Mantle deep pearl gray; crown and nape black; rump andtail white; beneath, j^ale gray, shading to white on the throat; bill andlegs orange red. Tail deeply forked. Length 13 to 16 inches. In winter the under parts are pure white, and the crown is mottledwith white. The young birds have bars of brown on the mantle, and the crown isof a brownish tinge ; also, the bill and legs bear a yellow tinge in sum-mer, and turn to nearly black in winter. Nest. On the sand or amid shingle or short herbage near water,—a slight depression, sometimes sparsely lined with grass or weeds; occa-sionally a rather bulky nest is made of straw or sea-weed. ^s. 2-5 (usually 3); the ground color varies, olive and buff tintsprevailing; the marking also varies, but is always profuse and of severalshades of brown ; the si
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