UP THE RIVER 



385 



was a bob-tailed Rail — one was a Snipe with far-back 

 eyes and a linger-beak like a Woodcock's — one was a 

 Spotted Sandpiper that teeters and whistles ' tweet- 

 weet' — and the other was a tiny little Sandpiper with 

 a very sad cry. Now do you know them ? " 



'' Famous! " lauglied the Doctor ; '' of course I know 

 them after that." 



" Do they all belong to the same family ? " persisted 

 Dodo, whose little head was beginning to swim with 

 all this new knowledge it had to hold. 



"Not all of them. The Snipe and both the Sand- 

 pipers belong to one famil}^, the same as that of the 

 Woodcock ; but the Rail belongs to a different family. 

 So also does the Plover you learned this morning. 

 The three families of Snipes, Plovers, and Rails are the 

 largest ones of all ^ the tribe of Birds that Paddle 

 and Wade by th 

 from their size 

 and shape are 

 sometimes called 

 Marsh Hens. 

 The Turnstone 

 belongs to a 

 fourth family, 

 but it is a very 

 small one. Now 

 I will give you 

 the tables of the 

 four kinds of 

 birds you have 

 learned this af- 

 ternoon." 



2c 



bPUTTED .bANl)PIlM<;U. 



