. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Sanderling nimble, these birds think nothing of quitting a locality upon the slightest suggestion of danger up-shore. And for the same reason they do not hesitate to re-establish themselves at a few rods' remove. On the other hand, a person seated quietly on the sand, say thirty feet from the water's edge, may see a company of rather conscious pipers approaching up wind. The picking is good. It would be too bad not to finish the row. There are
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Sanderling nimble, these birds think nothing of quitting a locality upon the slightest suggestion of danger up-shore. And for the same reason they do not hesitate to re-establish themselves at a few rods' remove. On the other hand, a person seated quietly on the sand, say thirty feet from the water's edge, may see a company of rather conscious pipers approaching up wind. The picking is good. It would be too bad not to finish the row. There are hesitations, huddlings, cautions, feints, and miniature retreats. They are as conscious as schoolboys about to say a piece. Finally, some brave Roderick makes a dash and goes scudding past. Others follow, and the ordeal is done without the humiliation of flight. In observing a large flock which had been several times disturbed, I noted that immediately upon alighting at the water's edge they dispatched an attacking force up the beach slope to deploy as skirmishers over the dry, level sands at the top. When threatened, this vanguard invariably reassembled and pattered, or fled, down the slope to rejoin the reserves before taking final flight. This was done so quickly and so methodically as to argue the utmost familiarity of usage. Although Sanderlings rarely visit the lagoons or mudflats, they spend a good deal of time resting in the upper sands; or after an elaborate toilet beside some tidal pool, they foregather with the gulls and take one-legged snoozes in serene content. A single leg serves many birds as a prop during the hours of slumber, but it has remained for the Sanderling to perfect hopping as a means of locomotion. One's sympathies are aroused at first upon seeing one poor little piper making prodigious hops in the effort to keep up with the re- treating wave—and doing very well at it too—but when he sees a dozen. Taken in Santa Barbara Photo by the Author A LITTL
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Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
