A Bird’s-Eye View 
wading. The group is a varied one as regards 
size and plumage, averaging much smaller than 
any other group, containing all the most deli- 
cate species and some that are brightly colored. 
It contains also the species that one is most 
likely to find, as some of them frequent almost 
all rivers, while others are to be seen along the 
coast of the Eastern States through the summer. 
The group comprises several large families, 
which I will only mention briefly. 
Plovers are among the best known, averag- 
ing about the size of a thrush, the smallest 
being the piping plover, with quite a musical 
note, while the handsomest is the ‘‘ crested lap- 
wing,’’ which Tennyson refers to, a common 
bird in Europe, but belonging to the North 
American fauna only by virtue of having been 
seen in Greenland. The golden, kildeer, and 
mountain plovers are also familiar and attrac- 
tive species, the last-named being an exception 
to the class in living entirely away from water. 
The turnstone, stilt, and avocet, which have al- 
ready been described, belong to the shore 
group. Another section of it are the sand- 
pipers, a numerous and generally plainly colored 
family ; as a rule quite small, the ‘‘ least sand- 
piper’’ being the most diminutive of all our 
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