Between the Tracks 



107 



in acrobatic style. The four eggs l\ing on the decayed leaves presented a beautiful 

 sight. The light creaniy background offset the brick-red blotches, and many 

 lavender markings seemed to show through from the inner side of the shell. 



Nests which arc exemplifications of art and bird craft, such as the Blue-gray 

 Gnatcatcher, are marvels for neatness and construction; but nothing is handsomer 

 to me than a beautiful set of eggs lying in a bed of leaves, just as they are de- 

 posited by the Woodcock or Whip-])(><)r will. 



The Woodcock often chooses a locality outside of the dense brush. One of 

 my farmer friends, while plowing his corn stubble several years ago, overturned 

 a mother Woodcock. In a depression of corn husks she was sitting on four eggs 

 May 15, and, had she commenced maternal duties twenty-four hours earlier, 

 her offspring would have undoubtedly escaped the plow. 



I 





*-^' 



SPOTTED S.WDPIPER 

 Photographed by H. H. Cleaves, Slaten Island, X. V, 



