. A popular handbook of the birds of Canada and the United States [microform]. Oiseaux; Birds. 128 WADING BIRDS. ing in form and appearance every instant whUe tliey perform their circuitous, waving, and'whirling evolutions along the shores with great rapidity ; alternately bringing their dark and white plumage into view, they form a very grand and imposing spectacle of the sublime instinct and power of Nature. At such times, however, the keen gunner, without losing much time in empty contemplation, makes prodigious slaughter in the timid ranks of the Purres; while as the showers of their compa
. A popular handbook of the birds of Canada and the United States [microform]. Oiseaux; Birds. 128 WADING BIRDS. ing in form and appearance every instant whUe tliey perform their circuitous, waving, and'whirling evolutions along the shores with great rapidity ; alternately bringing their dark and white plumage into view, they form a very grand and imposing spectacle of the sublime instinct and power of Nature. At such times, however, the keen gunner, without losing much time in empty contemplation, makes prodigious slaughter in the timid ranks of the Purres; while as the showers of their companions fall, the whole body often alight or descend to the surface with them, until the greedy sportsman becomes satiated with destruction. The Dunlins breed plentifully on the Arctic coasts of Amer- ica, nesting on the ground in tfte herbage, laying three or four very large eggs of an oil-green, marked with irregular spots of liver-brown of different sires and shades, confluent at the larger end. Mr. Pennant also received the eggs of this kind from Denmark, so that the range in which they breed, no less than that in which they migrate, is very extensive. This species, still abundant throughout the continent, and breed^ ine in the Far North, is called "Winter Snipe" by the gunners of New Jersey and southward; but that name is given by the New Englanders to the Purple Sandpiper, which is not seen farther south. The names Ox-bird and Purre, given to the present spe- cies by Nuttall, were the names by which the summer and winter phases ol the Dunlin were designated formerly by English writers. Mr D. G. Elliot tells us that in the far north, when the pairing time arrives, "the males pursue the females, uttering a musical trilling note which falls upon the ear like the mellow tinkle of large water drops falling rapidly into a partly filled vessel. It is not loud, but has a rich full tone difficult to descnbe, but pleasant to hear among the discordant notes of the vario
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1903
