Where Runs the Tide. 191 



as if looking for their home of last summer ; and 

 the pretty peet-weet, so constantly repeated, gives 

 evidence of their satisfaction at being here once 

 more. But these birds by no means confine them- 

 selves to the river-shore ; they wander inland until 

 every pond, every brook, every spring-hole has been 

 found, and, once discovered, these places are sure 

 to be immediately occupied, Amid such surround- 



Teeter Tiltup, 



ings I have ever found them, except when on brief 

 visits or at unseasonable times, and in early spring 

 I always look forward with pleasure to their coming, 

 for they are to the water what swallows are to the 

 air. They fill a place that no other bird can fill, 

 and leave a painful void when they depart. They 

 are not, so to speak, exasperating transient visitors, 

 but come to stay, and are the life of the place 



