. Bird-land echoes; . e obliter-ated, but it does not tarry on the river-shore. It isespecially fond of pools of rain-water in newlyploughed fields, and I have known it to stay aboutthese until all the water had disappeared, when itwould move to a grassy field through which ran alittle brook. Here also the bird is happy, judgingfrom its actions, though it utters no call or unpreten-tious song when undisturbed, or, if so, in so low andindistinct a tone as to have escaped me. Openglades surrounded by dense woods also attract it,and its flight-power is often beautifully exhibited inits upward, tw
. Bird-land echoes; . e obliter-ated, but it does not tarry on the river-shore. It isespecially fond of pools of rain-water in newlyploughed fields, and I have known it to stay aboutthese until all the water had disappeared, when itwould move to a grassy field through which ran alittle brook. Here also the bird is happy, judgingfrom its actions, though it utters no call or unpreten-tious song when undisturbed, or, if so, in so low andindistinct a tone as to have escaped me. Openglades surrounded by dense woods also attract it,and its flight-power is often beautifully exhibited inits upward, twisting progress between tall trees ; andI n 17 194 Bird-Land Echoes. then with what hghtning-Hke rapidity it disappears !but if you remain where you were when you flushedthe bird, the chances are that you will see it return,darting down with a snipe-like whir of the wings,and the moment it touches the ground raising themuntil they meet over its back, as if to ascertainwhether they are still in working order after such. Solitary Sand-piper. violent exercise. It is a pretty act and an invariableone. Then it commences to feed. I once saw apin-tail duck go through the same performance. Though I appear to stand alone in the opinion, Iam convinced that they sometimes breed is no possibility of confounding this specieswith any other; the suggestion of a professional Where Runs the Tide. 195 bird-man that I mistook a ** teeters nest for that ofa soHtaiy sand-piper is absurd. Let me add that Ionce shot a female **soHtary and found in it anegg with the shell well advanced, and it is ridicu-lous to suppose that such an egg could have beencarried to the Arctic circle for depositing; nor shallI ever forget the distress caused to its mate by myact. That pair of birds, which had been stayingabout the mucky meadow for a week or more, in-tended to nest as near as the mountains of Pennsyl-vania, to which they could have flown in half a day;and, to my certain knowledge, a pair of solit
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1896
