The Birds' Calendar 



enigmatical in offering the largest encourage- 

 ment to man's efforts to ai)prehend the scheme 

 of creation, and at the same time apparently 

 mocking his labors by licr impenetrable mys- 

 teries. Yet this contradiction has its advan- 

 tage. Without success in his research, man 

 would become discouraged ; and without fail- 

 ure, conceited. 



Another of the ''waders," appearing in the 

 Park soon after the herons, is the spotted sand- 

 piper. The sandpipers are a family of small 

 and plainly colored birds, most of the species 

 frequenting the sea-coast or salt-marshes ; but 

 the spotted and solitary sandpipers are fresh- 

 water birds. A pair of the former remained at 

 the Lake several days. It is from seven to eight 

 inches long, dark al)0vc, and beneath white, 

 thickly spotted with dark. Their flight is 

 quite peculiar. With one quick stroke of the 

 wings they can propel themselves a long dis- 

 tance, and, by repeating at intervals the single 

 vibration, they appear to be floating in air, as 

 with motionless wing they speed along close to 

 the water. When standing on the ground they 

 have a ludicrous trick of ducking the head and 

 jerking the body, the purpose of which is quite 

 unaccountable, a habit that has given them the 



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