Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 2 (of 2)

"Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 2 (of 2)" by Bent is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. It compiles detailed life-history accounts of shorebirds, emphasizing habits, breeding, plumages and molts, migration, and distribution, with notes on subspecies and occasional Old World visitors. Readers should expect methodical species-by-species treatments grounded in museum work, field observations, and extensive contributor reports.

The opening of the volume presents a transcriber’s note, a Smithsonian “Bulletin” advertisement, a comprehensive table of contents, and an introduction outlining methods (taxonomy following the AOU, condensed egg-date summaries, concise plumage treatment, and a strong focus on migration), plus acknowledgments to numerous contributors. It then launches into full accounts: the Solitary Sandpiper’s habits at shaded woodland pools; its courtship flutter and soft whistles; and, most notably, its tree-nesting in abandoned nests of robins, blackbirds, waxwings, and others, with descriptions of eggs, molts, feeding tactics, behavior, voice, and broad North–South distribution. A western subspecies is distinguished by size and plumage details and scant breeding evidence from the boreal West. Brief sections treat the Old World Green Sandpiper (an accidental in North America, also a tree-nester) and the Wood Sandpiper (rare visitor, with ground or occasional tree-nesting in Eurasia), summarizing their courtship songs, nesting, food, and ranges. The section on the Eastern Willet begins by charting its historical decline on the Atlantic coast and notes surviving and recovering breeding groups in Nova Scotia and Virginia under protection. (This is an automatically generated summary.)