A DAY ON THE BAY SHORE 



bird about the size of a robin, rather plumper in build, and 

 with long, pointed wing-feathers. Its head is white, varie- 

 gated with markings of black, and its white breast is crossed 

 by a double collar of black. The back is grayish brown and 

 the rump bright rufous or cinnamon in color. The kildeer is 

 a very common bird, even in upland fields, and its strikingly 

 characteristic note when once learned can never be mistaken 

 or forgotten. 



The tide has been steadily going out since we arrived, and 

 while the shore birds come crowding in to feed, the water 

 birds are flying about somewhat restlessly from one pond to 

 another, or perchance crossing over to the deep water of the 

 mid-bay. A whirring of wings and away speeds a flock of 

 shoveller ducks, formed in a v-shaped file. Well may they 

 be called shovellers, with their great, broad, flattened beaks, 

 by means of which they scoop up their food from the mud. 

 The teeth-like straining plates on the sides of the bill, so char- 

 acteristic of the ducks, are unusually pronounced in this species. 

 The male is gaily colored, with wings of white, blue, and 

 green, a dark glossy-green head, white breast, and under parts 

 of a chestnut hue, while the female is somewhat duller, having 

 the green of the head replaced by mottled brownish yellow, 

 and the other markings more dulled and subdued. 



As the shovellers disappear in the distance let us turn our 

 attention to the sandpipers, running about in the mud and pro- 

 bing it for food with their fine, long, black beaks. What could 

 be more dainty than these little shore wanderers, with slender 

 necks, sharply pointed wings, long, black pipe-stems of legs, 

 and plump, white breasts? They are invariably in flocks, 

 sometimes of considerable numbers, and are never more at 



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