FROM THE ELM-CLUMP 109 



could be found nearby. Here, fifty or sixty of 

 them with a number of yellowleg satellites were 

 drowsing in their one-legged way. Why a 

 wader cannot rest as well on two legs as one is 

 a mystery. These fellows were just resting up 

 for their noisy activity in the evening, for their 

 voices are in keeping with their size, and while 

 feeding, a large flock of them make a jabbering 

 row, which at a distance is almost goose-like. 



How gregarious migrants come to choose cer- 

 tain localities in preference to others, as a fall 

 rendezvous, is hard to determine fully. Usually 

 it is a matter of comfort, and the place that best 

 suits the purpose from a food and shelter stand- 

 point is selected. But this does not seem to ap- 

 ply to the waders that pick one pond from a 

 dozen similar, or to the ducks and geese that 

 pass twenty fields to feed on another with no 

 better gleanings, or to the blackbird host that 

 roosts in one certain corner of the marsh, etc. 

 There seems to be a great deal of go-with-the- 

 crowd spirit in such birds, a few individuals 

 early in the season leading the small numbers, 

 and thus shaping the future course of the host 

 that follows later. 



Almost the first thing of note close at hand 



