176 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



whether the coyote's stalking was rewarded with 

 a full stomach or an empty must go unrecorded. 



Aug. 3. A rain came on at five o'clock a. m. 

 and continued through every hour of the day. 

 It was from the east, and during the long day, 

 all sound of living things was hushed in the drip- 

 drop-drump of the big drops on the drum-like 

 tent. Even the ground squirrels did not show 

 up at all. 



Aug. 4. It cleared in the morning ; and bright 

 and early, out came the ground squirrels — early 

 at least for such lie-abed chaps, — and they were 

 very hungry. Two of them even ate together for 

 a moment at the log. This was something un- 

 usual, for as a rule their table etiquette was of 

 the worst. 



The bird-note of the day came in the evening, 

 when just at dusk, the Bartram sandpipers began 

 going overhead southward, on their fall migra- 

 tion. Their soft, liquid notes rippled earthward, 

 as the members of the company called to one an- 

 other along their airy pathway, and it was con- 

 tinued intermittently for about two hours after 

 sundown. These birds seem to migrate just after 

 dusk and in the early moonlight, and I have 

 never yet noted them passing at any other time. 



