NORTHWARD WITH THE SHORE-BIRDS 225 



ponds which Audubon, some seventy years ago, vainly tried 

 to reach. On this my first day upon these Northern islands 

 it was delightful that I should be privileged to hear for my 

 first time the melodious love-songs of those Northern shore- 

 birds, the Wilson's Snipe and the Least Sandpiper. Of the 

 former I shall tell presently. In the vicinity of a small pond 

 the little sandpiper was flying about in circles, now low, now 

 high enough to be almost lost to sight. The wings were 

 beating tremulously under the impulses of love, and the little 

 fellow was uttering a continuous mellow twittering, very 

 pretty to hear. Many other shore-birds have this habit ; it 

 may be characteristic of them all. The love-song of the Wood- 

 cock is an example, and is comparatively well known. 



Separating now from my companions, I had almost exceeded 

 the limits of m}^ boot-tops in reaching the nests of some 

 Rusty Grackles (a northerly species) in a strip of low spruces, 

 when I heard a faint halloo, and saw my companion in the 

 distance eagerly beckoning. When I reached him he said 

 nothing, but pointed down near his feet. He was standing 

 just up from a wet depression, in open, barren ground 

 which bore only the coarse, sparse grass and the gray moss 

 of the arctic barrens. Following his direction, I saw a Least 

 Sandpiper trotting nervously about near us. Then, looking 

 closer, I saw the nest. This Sandpiper is the smallest of the 

 " Peeps" or "Ox-eyes," as they are popularly called, which 

 in spring and fall flock upon our beaches and marshes, but 

 breed in the arctic regions. The nest was merely a round hol- 

 low scratched out in the moss and lined with a few dry bay- 

 berrv leaves. The eggs were four, as is usual with shore-birds, 

 and were arranged with the small ends together, which is also 

 good form in shore-bird etiquette. They were of a very dark 

 drab color, heavilv blotched with brown. My delight may be 

 imagined, as I stood gazing at an exhibition which but few 



