l62 WADING BIRDS. 



grayish yellow or dull cream color marked with a great num- 

 ber of specks and spots of dark brown, with a very few of a 

 somewhat lighter shade, the whole most numerous at the larger 

 end ; they are about one and one fourth inches in length, and 

 very wide at the greater end. On being flushed from her eggs, 

 the female goes off without uttering any complaint ; but when 

 surprised with her young, she practises all the arts of dissimu- 

 lation common to many other birds, fluttering in the path as 

 if badly wounded, and generally succeeds in this way so far to 

 deceive a dog, or perhaps squirrel, as to cause them to over- 

 look the brood for whose protection these instinctive arts are 

 practised. Nor are the young without their artful instinct, for 

 on hearing the reiterated cries of their parents, they scatter 

 about, and squatting still in the withered grass, almost exactly 

 their color, it is with careful search very difficult to discover 

 them, so that nine times out of ten they would be overlooked, 

 and only be endangered by the tread, which they would en- 

 dure sooner than betray their conscious retreat. 



At a later period the shores and marshes resound with the 

 quick, clear, and oft-repeated note oi peet weet, peet weet, fol- 

 lowed up by a plaintive call on the young of peet, peet peet ? 

 peet ? If this is not answered by the scattered brood, a reite- 

 rated 'weet, 'weet, 'weet, 'wait 'wait is heard, the voice drop- 

 ping on the final syllables. The whole marsh and the shores 

 at times echo to this loud, lively, and solicitous call of the 

 affectionate parents for their brood. The cry, of course, is 

 most frequent towards evening, when the little family, sep- 

 arated by the necessity of scattering themselves over the 

 ground in quest of food, are again desirous of reassembling to 

 roost. The young as soon as hatched run about in the grass, 

 and utter from the first a weak, plaintive peep, at length more 

 frequent and audible ; and an imitation of the whistle of 'peet 

 weet is almost sure to meet with an answer from the sympa- 

 thizing broods which now throng our marshes. When the note 

 appears to be answered, the parents hurry and repeat their 

 call with great quickness. The late Mr. William Bartram, so 

 long and happily devoted to the study of Nature, with which 



