NORTHWARD WITH THE SHORE-BIRDS 229 



ing of this, I came at once and found the birds acting as de- 

 scribed, and ahghting a good deal in the adjoining field of 

 short grass. It was evident that they had young, so two of 

 us made a thorough search for them. At one place the sand- 

 pipers were especially so- 

 licitous, and here we soon 

 found an egg-shell, and pre- 

 sently the whole brood of 

 four of about the most cun- 

 ning bird-mites I ever had 

 seen. They were of a mot- 

 tled rich brown and white, 

 and were squatting close 

 together amid some sparse 

 grass, perfectly motionless, 

 and so blending with their 

 surroundings that we had 

 overlooked them many 

 times. No nest could be 



found, and yet here were the newly hatched young, too feeble, 

 seemingly, to have travelled but a few steps. 



This was a prize indeed, a splendid complement for my 

 other Least Sandpiper pictures, — for they were of this spe- 

 cies. After photographing them, I placed the camera so as to 

 secure a picture of the mother brooding. She would not ven- 

 ture, and the brood was becoming chilled in the raw evening 

 air, so I removed the camera, and in a few seconds they were 

 under mother's wing. Next morning I readily found the brood 

 again in the same field, stronger now, and running about 

 singly. The old ones were as demonstrative as ever, and 

 with my reflex camera, set with the single member of my 

 big double anastigmat, I secured pictures of the female upon 

 stub, fence, and ground, and also of single young. That after- 



YOUNG LEAST SANDPIPERS AS FIRST FOUND 



