VIRGINIA BIRD HOMES 



125 



backs, and black cap and wing-tips, — except that the former 

 species has an orange bill, the latter a black one. The nests 

 were scattered irregularly about and usually contained three 

 eggs. 



The great salt marsh back of the narrow strip of sand was 

 meanwhile offering its allurements. Willets were flying about 

 with loud outcries, distressed lest I should find their young. 



BLACK SKIMMER INCUBATING EGGS 



A flock of Laughing Gulls — so called from their laughter- 

 like cacklings — were preening their feathers by a pool on 

 the marsh's edge. The occasional "cluck, cluck" of some 

 Marsh Hen, or Clapper Rail, invisible in the grass, bespoke 

 a new wonder of which I desired to know more. Although 

 there are doubdess tens of thousands of these peculiar birds 

 on all these great marshes, I learned to my chagrin that 

 it was by no means easy to find a nest. Two hours' hard 

 tramping over the sticky and treacherous expanse failed to 

 reward me with an occupied nest. Two were discovered from 

 which the young had gone. They were neat, saucer-shaped 



