UP THE RIVER 



385 



was a bob-tailed Rail — one was a Snipe with far-back 

 eyes and a finger-beak like a Woodcock's — one was a 

 Spotted Sandpiper that teeters and whistles ' tweet- 

 weet ' — and the other was a tiny little Sandpiper with 

 a very sad gyj. Now do you know them ? " 



"Famous! " lauglied the Doctor ; "of course I know 

 them after that." 



" Do they all belong to the same family ? " persisted 

 Dodo, whose little head was beginning to swim wdth 

 all this new knowledge it had to hold. 



"Not all of them. The Snipe and both the Sand- 

 pipers belong to one famil}^, the same as that of the 

 Woodcock ; but the Rail belongs to a different family. 

 So also does the Plover you learned this morning. 

 The three families of Snipes, Plovers, and Rails are the 

 largest ones of all the tribe of Birds that Paddle 

 and AVade by the \n^ ^-*-=^ sea -shore. The Rails 

 from their size 

 and shape are 

 sometimes called 

 Marsh Hens. 

 The Turnstone 

 belongs to a 

 fourth family, 

 but it is a very 

 small one. Now 

 I will give you 

 the tables of the 

 four kinds of 

 birds you have 

 learned this af- 

 ternoon.' 



2c 



Spotted Sandpiper, 



