UP THE RIVER 



383 



Wilson's Snipe. 



side of the bar to feed, but 



I've never seen them 



there. They mostlj 



do their coming 



and going at 



night — and fly 



high too, even 



tlien. 



" Sandpipers don't 

 bore in the ground 

 for their food, but just ^j 

 pick it up ; so they keep 

 along the shore of either 

 fresh or salt Avater, some kinds choosing one place and 

 some another. The Sj^otted Sandpiper is another of 

 the little fellows Avho sometimes nests back in those 

 meadows. He is not a bit shy, but runs about as tame 

 as a Robin, and he isn't as big as a Robin either. 

 Sometimes they lay their eggs in the meadow and 

 sometimes among the tuft-grass back of the beach. 

 They lay four eggs, A^ery big at one end and peaked at 

 the other, and put them in the nest with the pointed 

 ends together in the middle, to take up less room ; and 

 they're sandy-colored, spotted all over. They hang 

 about here all summer. We call them 'teeters' because 

 they always tip up their tails and Ijob so when they 

 run. They whistle like this, ' tweet- weet — tweet- 

 weet ! ' 



" There's another mite of a Sandpiper that comes 

 around here late every summer, though it nests way up 

 north. It is the very littlest of all, not bigger than a 

 Sparrow, so pretty and innocent-looking that it ought to 



