THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 155 



Common Sandpiper, which began to wheel about us, 

 crying loudly to his mate, which responded at 

 intervals from the further bank. Having lost sight 

 of the male for a few moments, we were surprised 

 to see him dart off a dead bough. Naturally, we 

 lay down, and he alighted on a bough of willowy 

 whence he listed his love song for exactly eight 

 continuous minutes ; then, gently expanding his 

 pinions, he flew to a higher branch, on which he 

 perched for two minutes. He next took a turn up 

 and down the river, once more alighting on a large 

 tree, about thirty feet from the ground, and nearer 

 to us than had been the case at first. He alighted 

 on this tree near to the trunk, but finding his perch 

 not entirely to his liking, he proceeded to trip down 

 the curved branch with some care, securing his 

 footing with his long toes, which we could dis- 

 tinguish through the glasses ; arrived in the centre, 

 he perched crossways on the bough, and recom- 

 menced calling to his mate. Some tw^enty minutes 

 later, I heard her reply softly, and glancing round, 

 spied her on a rock in the bed of the river. 

 Scarcely had I pointed her out to Earle, than she 

 flew to the further bank, alighting on a branch of a 

 half-submerged tree ; there she preened herself for 

 twenty minutes. Just as the male Sandpiper had 

 completed one hour and five minutes, by my watch, 

 on his perch, a beautiful Pied Flycatcher flew into 

 the next willow, with a green caterpillar in his bill. 

 An instant later his mate appeared. Forgetting 

 the phenomenon of the perching Sandpiper, Earle 

 and I started to our feet together, thereby disturbing 



