SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



When it stands still, it nods its head like a 

 nervous hen. 



Its call note is a delightful bubbling sound 

 that drops down from the sky as the bird flies 

 over. I have heard it by night as well as by 

 day, and its sweet but mournful character, 

 and a certain strange unbirdliness, make it 

 very interesting. One can only hope that this 

 bird— which, by the way, is a sandpiper and 

 not a '' plover " — will some day breed here 

 regularly, as in the days gone by. 



Perhaps the most characteristic shore birds 

 of the salt marshes, birds that very rarely 

 wander to the beach, are the yellow-legs, both 

 greater and lesser, or, as they are generally 

 called in these Ipswich regions, '' winter " 

 and '' summer." 



The lesser or summer yellow-leg is very 

 rare in the spring migration, for it goes north 

 by an inland route, but in the fall it is gen- 

 erally an earlier migrant than the greater, as 

 it is rarely seen after the middle of Septem- 

 ber, while that bird is generally most common 

 in October, and is, moreover, an abundant 

 spring migrant. Both birds have long yellow 

 legs, long necks and bills and white rumps, 

 but the greater, le grand Chevalier a pieds 



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