(BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER.)
+Totanus bartramia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 503 (Mendoza).
+Actiturus bartramius+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 146;
_Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 199 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_,
1884, p. 315 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 472 (Lomas
de Zamora). +Bartramia longicauda+, _Baird, Brew., et Ridgw.
Water-B. N. A._ i. p. 296. +Totanus bartrami+, _Seebohm,
Plovers_, p. 376.
_Description._--Above blackish, feathers edged with yellowish
brown; rump black; wing-coverts yellowish brown, barred with black;
primaries blackish: beneath white; breast and flanks ochraceous,
spotted and barred with black; under surface of wings barred with
white and black; bill yellowish, tip black; feet yellow: whole
length 10·0 inches, wing 6·3, tail 3·1. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ North America, migrating south to Buenos Ayres.
Bartram's Sandpiper is another of those species which breed in North
America, and extend their winter-migrations far into the Southern
Hemisphere. It differs, however, from its fellow-migrants, which visit
the Argentine country, in its wide and even distribution over all that
portion of the pampas where the native coarse grasses which once covered
the country have disappeared, an area comprising not less than 50,000
square miles. It begins to arrive as early as September, coming singly
or in small parties of three or four; and, extraordinary as the fact
may seem when we consider the long distance the bird travels, and the
monotonous nature of the level country it uses as a "feeding area," it
is probable that every bird returns to the same spot year after year;
for in no other way could such a distribution be maintained, and the
birds appear every summer evenly sprinkled over so immense a surface.
On the pampas the bird is called _Chorlo solo_, on account of its
solitary habit, but more commonly "Batitú," an abbreviation of the
Indian name Mbatuitui. In disposition it is shy, and prefers concealment
to flight when approached, running rapidly away through the long grass
or thistles, or concealing itself behind a tussock until the danger is
past, or often, where the herbage is short, crouching on the ground like
a Snipe. It runs swiftly and pauses frequently; and while standing still
with head raised it jerks its long tail up and down in a slow measured
manner. When driven up it springs aloft with a sudden wild flight,
uttering its loud mellow-toned cry, composed of three notes, strongly
accented on the first and last; and sometimes, when the bird is much
alarmed, the first note is rapidly repeated several times like a trill.
After flying a very short distance it drops to the ground again,
agitating its wings in a tremulous manner as it comes down. In this
motion of the wings, also in many of its gestures, on the ground, its
skulking habits, and reluctance to fly it is more like a Rail than a
Snipe. It also, Rail-like, frequently alights on trees and fences, a
habit I have not remarked in any other Limicoline species.
It inhabits the pampas from September until March; but early in February
the great return-migration begins, and then for two months the mellow
cry of the Batitú is heard far up in the sky, at all hours, day and
night, as the birds wing their way north. In some seasons stragglers are
found throughout the month of April, but before the winter arrives not
one is left.