. Bird-lore . ght safety in flight. All that couldbe seen was an apparently double bird twisting away along a dark brokenbank, so closely was the pursuit followed up. Mr. Sandpiper was so puffed upby his victory that he didnt even wait for his next rival to begin operationsbut gave him a thorough trouncing as soon as he lit on their homestead. For their homestead it was to be. Mrs. Sandpiper ceased her coquettishways and no longer bobbed her head to attract the attention of passing morning she was found industriously scratching a shallow hole in the shortthick grass on the warm south
. Bird-lore . ght safety in flight. All that couldbe seen was an apparently double bird twisting away along a dark brokenbank, so closely was the pursuit followed up. Mr. Sandpiper was so puffed upby his victory that he didnt even wait for his next rival to begin operationsbut gave him a thorough trouncing as soon as he lit on their homestead. For their homestead it was to be. Mrs. Sandpiper ceased her coquettishways and no longer bobbed her head to attract the attention of passing morning she was found industriously scratching a shallow hole in the shortthick grass on the warm south side of a well-drained hummock, surrounded byconnected pools. The next day the cavity was lined with dead willow leavesand contained a beautiful, heavily blotched egg. Each day brought forth anadditional egg until there were four. Being remarkably large for so small abird, they completely filled the nest. In order to economize space, the eggswere kept with the sharp pointed ends facing the center of the FOUR BEAUTIFUL, HEAVILY BLOTCHED EGGS COMPLETELY FILLED THE NEST Bird - Lore Mr. Sandpiper was now busy making short song-flights at an elevation ofabout 50 feet alxne and near the nest. His song seemed to come from every direction, and this illusion wasdifficult to account for evenby the unusual location of thesongster. To human ears itsounded like the mellow trill ofa katydid, but to Mrs. Sand-piper he was probably an avianCaruso. These artistic endeav-ors were often interrupted bythe appearance of some, perhapsinnocent, intruding Sandpiper,always a cause for combat, whenthe tenor love-notes gave wayto baritone overbearing as the pugnacious male Sandpiper was to all strangers, hewas always a very considerate and willing helper to his brooding mate. Duringthe cooler morning hours, from 2 until 4 oclock, he often relieved her of thehousehold duties and kept the eggs warm while she was away getting her break-fast along the edge of a lagoon some 200 yards dist
Size: 2100px × 1190px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsperiodicals
