PEEWITS BATHING 117 



Pleasant it is to have this breezy joy of spring-time, 

 once again, to have the accustomed tilts and turns 

 and falls and rushing sweeps, before one's eyes, and 

 the old calls and cries in one's ears — the sound of 

 the wings, too, free as the wild air they beat, and 

 sunlight glints on green and white, and silver-flying 

 snowflakes. " What a piece of work is a peewit ! " 

 The glossy green of the upper surface — smooth and 

 shining as the shards of a beetle — glows, in places, 

 with purple burnishings, and, especially, on each 

 shoulder there is an intensified patch, the last bright 

 twin-touch of adornment. The pure, shining white 

 of the neck and ventral surface — shining almost into 

 silver as it catches the sun — is boldly and beautifully 

 contrasted with the black of the throat, chin, and 

 forehead. The neat little, corally stilt-legs are an 

 elegant support for so much beauty, and the crest 

 that crowns it is as the fringe to the scarf, or the 

 tassel to the fez. There is, besides, the walk, pose, 

 poise, and easy swing of the whole body. 



On the sopped meadow-land, near the river, in 

 "February fill-dyke" weather, it is pleasant to see 

 peewits bathing, which they do with mannerisms of 

 their own. Standing upright in a little pool, one 

 of them bobs down, into it, several times, each 

 time scooping up the water with his head, and 

 letting it run down over his neck and back. This 

 is common ; but he keeps his wings all the time 

 pressed to his sides, so that they do not assist in 

 scattering the water all over him, after the manner 

 in which birds, when they wash, usually do. Nor 

 does he sink upon his breast — which is also usual — 

 but merely stoops, and rises bolt upright, again, every 



