68 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



No person who had not enjoyed his companionship could have 

 any idea of his charming ways. He enjoyed attention, was cared 

 for in the tenderest manner, and I am sure felt himself to be, as 

 indeed he was, an important member of the household. 



Note. — By inquiry it was ascertained that our bird was bought from a 

 countr\' bo3' V)v the German bird fancier, wlio kept him through the winter and 

 then set him free to shift for himself. 



Our Most Familiar Shore Bird. 



{Being a tribute to the Spotted Sa)idpi per.) 

 By Howard H. Clkavks, vStaten Lsland, N. Y. 



What would the shores and the borders of water courses be 

 like if not adorned for at least a part of the j^ear by the dainly Sand- 

 pipers? Their whistling notes lend an atmosphere of cheerfulness 

 and variety to the lonesome and almost endless stretches of salt 

 meadows and winding creeks. At low tide it is indeed a familiar 

 sight to .see their trim, delicate forms darting here and there over 

 the murky mud flats, in pursuit of insect food. 



Imagine yourself standing in the midst of a salt meadow of 

 great extent, beside a winding creek, whose gently sloping banks 

 are l)ared by tlic lowness of the tide. The reaches of salt meadows 

 are beaten by the rays of a June sun, and heat waves may be seen 

 rising as from a furnace. Here and there may be distinguished the 

 songs of Sharp-tailed and Seaside Sparrows, while yonder a Red- 

 winged Blackbird circles up and attacks a passing Crow, or perhaps 

 a Marsh Hawk, and wheels back to his lonely stake, where he 

 simultaneously spreads his tail and bursts forth with his song of 

 "0-ka-lee," as though defjnng the vanquished enemy to return. 

 Long-billed Marsh Wrens all about arc flying up above the tall 

 grasses, and bubbling over with ecstatic song. P'rom a distant 

 water hole a Green Heron flaps away slowly toward the trees that 

 border on the marsh. From no particular place at all, apparently, 

 come the peculiar sounds made by the Clapper Rail, or Marsh Hen. 



