33^ 



Bird - Lore 



hardK- exjwcted to see any birds, or, at most, one or two watchful Yellow-legs 



or Pectorals. But, as I neared the swamp, three Red-backed Sandpipers were 



feeding along the shore of a little shallow lagoon. Dismounting, I worked my 



way slowly through the bushes 



and cattails on the border of the 



swamp and obtained my first shot 



when they stood in a row facing 



me from the opposite side of the 



little pond. They had seen me, 



however, and began to move off, 



slowly. Cautiously following and 



expecting them to fly every 



moment, I made two more shots 



as they were in retreat and was 



rather surprised that they did not 



fly. As they were now well aware 



of my presence, I crossed boldly 



in the open and sat down on the 



clean gravel of the bar where I 



could watch their every move. They went calmly on with their feeding, 



working back and forth in front of me, probing in the mud with their long, 



black, slightly curved bills and seemingly ignoring my presence. However, 



when they passed they would shy out around me, watching me closely from the 



tails of their eyes. I had been seated but a short time when I heard the soft, 



musical whistle of a Greater Yellow-legs, and it came wheeling down from the 



upper air and alighted gracefully on the beach some ten rods away. There 



it stood, bowing with quick little jerks and eyeing me suspiciously for a 



MARSH HAWK 



GREATER VKI.I.dW l.i;( , 



