Part 13

Young.--Incubation is performed by the female alone. Naumann (1887) gives the incubation period as 17 to 19 days, but this is probably too low an estimate and recently Heinroth has recorded 27 days. From observations made by Mr. W. H. St. Quinten on young hatched in captivity they leave the nest very soon after hatching, apparently directly the down is dry. The reeve is a good mother, and I have seen one when flushed from eggs on the point of hatching run from the nest, flapping her wings in a helpless way as if unable to fly. Another bird was also seen trying to distract attention by running with every feather erect, looking more like some small mammal than a bird.

Plumages.--The plumages and moults are fully described in A Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby.

Food.--The ruff is mainly insectivorous, feeding largely on beetles (Coleoptera), chiefly the smaller species. Jäckel records specimens of the following genera: Agonum, Bembidium, Parnus, Cyclonotum, Sitones, Pisodes, Rhinoncus, Philhydrus. Weevils are also mentioned by Florence. Among the Orthoptera remains of grasshoppers were found by Slater. Neuroptera met with include caddis worms and cases (Phryganeidae) and larvae of Ephemera, Trichoptera (Limnophilus by Jäckel) who also records Naucoris (Hemiptera). It will be noted that most of the above are aquatic forms. Diptera are a staple food in the north, including larvae of Tipulidae and many small species. Of Mollusca, Slater records small fresh water bivalves, Collett worms (Lumbrici). In winter the food is more largely vegetable in character, though fresh water algae and seeds of Rumex have been recorded in summer. Rice is frequently found in birds killed in India and Mellor also found in seven cases nothing but durra grains (Sorghum) from 19 to 228 in number.

Voice.--The ruff is an extremely silent bird. One may live among them in the Dutch polders for weeks together in the spring, and never hear a sound from them, except a very low guttural or quacking note from a reeve when disturbed from a family of young. Naumann (1887) however describes a note kack, kack, kick, kack, which is probably the same as that which Slater writes as wick, repeated rapidly several times. Unless much persecuted it is confiding in its habits and pays little attention to the presence of men.

Enemies.--In England its extermination was primarily due to the reckless way in which the breeding stock was netted not only in autumn but also on arrival in spring on the “hilling” grounds, in order to be fattened for the table. Montagu’s account of the state of things in his day has been quoted at length in many books on British birds, so that it is not necessary to repeat it here. As Pennant spoke of 40 or 50 dozen birds being taken by a single fowler in a season it is not surprising that the stock was rapidly reduced to so low a level that in spite of belated efforts to protect the birds and their eggs, it has now practically disappeared. On the continent where it is still locally common it has to contend against other avian enemies, more especially the harriers (Circus), but also the goshawk, peregrine, and to some extent gulls and crows.

Fall.--The distinctive plumes of the male are shed in June and in July the autumn plumage is assumed even in the extreme north. The males begin to disappear from their breeding haunts in central Europe in late July and early August, while the females are said to leave in September.

Winter.--In their winter quarters ruffs are generally sociable and are to be met with in small flocks, which show a preference to fresh water marshes rather than the sea coast. In India and the Sudan the flooded fields are a great attraction and the staple food consists of grain.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.--Formerly at many places in England from Northumberland southward, lingering until recently in Norfolk. Belgium, locally in North France, Holland, Denmark, North Germany, and Bavaria (Jäckel). Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic Republics, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia north to Kolguev, Waigatz, and Dolgoi and south to Bessarabia and Orenburg. In Asia, Siberia north to 72° on the Yenisei and east to the Lena and Kolyma valleys, south to Dauria, Turgai and Uralsk.

Winter range.--From Europe through Africa south to Cape Province, but scarce on passage in the Atlantic Islands. Asia, south to India, Ceylon (scarce), Burma, also recorded from China and Japan, Borneo (Labuan), etc.

Spring migration.--At the Straits of Gibraltar the northward movement begins in January and does not cease till May, but it is at its height in April. Some birds winter in the Mediterranean region and these have usually gone by the middle of April. In the eastern Mediterranean the passage begins in the Ionian Isles about March 15 and in Corfu in March.

Fall migration.--The return passage through southern Spain takes place in August and September, while in Greece, where it is less noticeable, it appears to take place toward the end of September.

Casual records.--The species has been rather frequently detected on the Atlantic coast of North America and (rarely) in the interior eastern States. Among these occurrences are: Ontario, Toronto Island, spring of 1882; Nova Scotia, near Halifax, May 27, 1892; New Brunswick, Grand Manan; Maine, Scarboro, April 10, 1870, Upton, September 8, 1874, and Camden, September 14, 1900; New Hampshire, Seabrook, September 23, 1907; Massachusetts, Newburyport, May 20, 1871, Chatham, September 11, 1880, and Nantucket, July, 1901; Rhode Island, Seaconnet Point, July 30, 1900, and Point Judith, August 31, 1903; New York, two on Long Island, one of which was taken May 18, 1868, and Freeport, September 27, 1914; New Jersey, Barnegat (Elliott collection); Virginia, Four-mile Run, September 3, 1894; North Carolina, Raleigh, May 6, 1892; Ohio, Licking Reservoir, November 11, 1872, and Columbus, April 23, 1878; and Indiana, English Lake, April 12, 1905.

It also has been taken in the Lesser Antilles, Barbados, previous to 1848; Colombia, probably between the Rio Negro and the Orinoco or adjacent regions; and Alaska, St. Paul Island, September 7, 1910. It is of rare occurrence in Japan (Yezo). There is one record from Iceland (Reykjavik, September, 1820).

Egg dates.--In Holland, 4 dates between May 7 and 14; 18 dates between May 15 and 31, 8 dates between June 1 and 22. In Lapland and North Russia, 16 dates between June 8 and 27.

BARTRAMIA LONGICAUDA (Bechstein)

UPLAND PLOVER

HABITS

Let us be thankful that this gentle and lovely bird is no longer called Bartramian sandpiper. It is a sandpiper truly enough, but one that has adopted the haunts and many of the habits of the plovers. To those who love the rolling or hilly pasture lands of the east or the broad flat prairies of the middle west, it will always be known as the upland or “field plover” or “prairie dove,” or, more affectionately, as “quailie.” It is a characteristic bird of the prairies and wide open grassy fields, where it once abounded in enormous numbers. Excessive shooting for the market, where it was much in demand, reduced its numbers to an alarmingly low ebb. Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1919) says that, in Minnesota,

Fifty years ago it was present all through the summer, everywhere in open country, in countless thousands. Now it is nearing extinction. Here and there an occasional breeding pair may yet be found, but they are lonely occupants of the places where their ancestors dwelt in vast numbers.

And with the disappearing prairies have gone these and other interesting birds that made the wide open places so attractive. When I visited the Quill Lake region in Saskatchewan in 1917, I found that practically all the prairies had been burned over or cultivated; the long-billed curlew had entirely disappeared, though recently abundant there, and I saw only one pair of chestnut-collared longspurs; but some of the upland plover were adapting themselves to the new conditions and were nesting in cultivated fields, much as the spotted sandpipers and the killdeer have learned to nest in grain fields and truck gardens. Perhaps such adaptation may be the salvation of a useful and attractive species. Some observers report it as already increasing in numbers.

Spring.--W. H. Hudson (1922) describes the beginning of the spring migration from the pampas of South America, as follows:

The north migration as a rule begins about the 15th of February and continues to the 15th of March, and it is at the beginning of the former month that the disquiet becomes noticeable. Now on one occasion the season of unrest began much earlier, in the month of January, increased from day to day and week to week in the most extraordinary way, and continued to about the middle of March before the birds began to fly north, the migration continuing through March. On any day in February when out riding I would see from time to time a bird spring up with its wild alarm cry and flight, and after going a little distance drop down again. Then in a minute or two another, farther away, would start up with its cry; and sitting still and watching and listening, I could see the birds rise up here and there all over the plain--rise with a cry, then settle down again; and if one rode a 100 miles to any side he would find it the same everywhere. The birds were in a continual state of agitation, of fear; and though this state began so much sooner than usual, the actual migration did not begin till a month later than the usual time.

Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1926), writing from the same general region, says:

At Tucuman, Tucuman, five were heard early in the evening of April 1 as they passed over the city traveling due north during a slow rain accompanied by heavy mist. On the night of April 5 under similar conditions an extensive flight of shore birds began at a quarter of 10 and continued until half past 11. During this period J. L. Peters, with whom I was traveling at the time, and I identified the call of the upland plover from 38 individuals. The birds were in company with yellowlegs, solitary sandpipers, and a few golden plover. How many passed unheard in the darkness there was no way to know. The calling of these birds when in northward migration was a phenomenon of common knowledge in Tucuman during that season in the year, but all commented upon the fact that the birds seemed to have decreased greatly in abundance in recent years.

The earliest birds reach Texas and Louisiana early in March. Illustrating the abundance of this species in Texas 40 years ago, G. B. Benners (1887) says:

At the former place we found immense flocks on the prairie, and they were so tame that the flock would part in the middle and let us drive between them. We often shot enough birds while going through a flock in this way to last for several meals. When they thought we did not see them they would stand perfectly still, and being the same color as their surroundings they easily escaped detection.

From there the main migration route seems to be directly northward between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.