NONSUCH 



seldom, always retrieving a morsel of food; con- 

 stantly fighting or pretending courtship. 



Least Sandpiper: Very tame, seldom on guard, 

 movements more irregular than preceding, pecking 

 constantly, only now and then finding and swallow- 

 ing food ; never fighting, often taking advantage of 

 turnstones' activities in uncovering food. 



Sanderling : Constantly drilling deep holes, one 

 after another, seldom merely pecking; usually near 

 water line. 



Turnstone: A waddling walk, feeding by push- 

 ing weed over ; butting it with the head. 



Piping Plover : Timid, nervous, large eyes never 

 off guard, snatching food quickly, near water ; time 

 spent watching to time of feeding, about 20 to 1. 



Semipalmated Plover: Still more timid, long 

 intervals of watching ; feeds higher up the beach, at 

 every stop one leg lifted very slightly. 



Some day we will know much more about these 

 phases of animal life — where the spirit of the flock 

 merges into specific personality ; and when and why 

 this, in turn, gives way to the unrestricted interplay 

 of individual emotions and mental reactions. 



The turnstones were the most abundant and 

 regular beach birds. It seems settled that they do 

 not breed in Bermuda, yet they are the earliest to 

 arrive and the last to be seen. Three notes from my 

 journal reveal an interesting happening — all the 

 more inexplicable if all the birds are migrants. 



September 7th, 1929 — Seventeen turnstones on 

 South Beach, two of which are cripples. One, a 



132 



