Children of the Midnight Sun 



187 



almost touch the still frozen Arctic Ocean to the north, and from 10 in the even- 

 ing until 3 in the morning, new ice often formed on the smaller pools. During this 

 interval the Sandpipers often huddled together for warmth. However, depen- 

 ding largely on exercise to keep themselves warm, they were out foraging for 

 breakfast by 3 o'clock the next morning. 



The frigid, smoky layers of mist that had extended over the tundra from the 

 ice-pack during the night evaporated suddenly, ushering in for the birds a day 

 of twenty-four golden hours. Mr. Sandpiper soon found that it was not going 

 to be all sunshine for him. He had taken only a few short wavy nuptial flights 

 into the crisp air when he observed some bold stranger making love to his mate. 

 He immediately fluffed out his feathers so as to appear as large as possible and 

 proceeded to upset the brazen intruder. Nothing was visible for a moment but 

 two whirling bits of gray and white, but the stranger, evidently surprised by 

 the suddenness and vigor of the attack, sought safety in flight. All that could 

 be seen was an apparently double bird twisting away along a dark broken 

 bank, so closely was the pursuit followed up. Mr. Sandpiper was so puffed up 

 by his victory that he didn't even wait for his next rival to begin operations 

 but gave him a thorough trouncing as soon as he lit on their homestead. 



For their homestead it was to be. Mrs. Sandpiper ceased her coquettish 

 ways and no longer bobbed her head to attract the attention of passing males. 

 One morning she was found industriously scratching a shallow hole in the short 

 thick grass on the warm south side of a well-drained hummock, surrounded by 

 connected pools. The next day the cavity was lined with dead willow leaves 

 and contained a beautiful, heavily blotched egg. Each day brought forth an 

 additional egg until there were four. Being remarkably large for so small a 

 bird, they completely filled the nest. In order to economize space, the eggs 

 were kept with the sharp pointed ends facing the center of the nest. 



FOUR BEAUTIFUL, HEAVILY BLOTCHED EGGS COMPLETELY FILLED THE NEST 



