562 The IVater-fowl Family 



that we located it from the boat nearly two miles 

 away by its noise, and when we reached the spot 

 it was one continuous roar of wings and whiz 

 of returning and circling birds. Every variety 

 found on the coast was there, with sand-hill cranes, 

 snipe, and plover in quantities like those of the 

 olden time. This depends largely on the time 

 and extent of the overflow. In some years and 

 earlier in the season the sloughs would be larger 

 as well as deeper and more numerous. Decem- 

 ber is the best time, though any time during the 

 winter will do. 



All birds seem to stay here long after the 

 weather is warm enough farther north, with more 

 and better feed, as far as man can see. Here on 

 the mud-flats of the river the tall curlew, arrayed 

 in brown and buff, wings his winding way on 

 every hand, his sonorous call ringing from shore 

 to shore ; and there his long, curved bill explores 

 the shore, with the avocet, in black and white, 

 and bill curved up instead of down, matching him 

 in his stately march to dinner. Far up and down 

 the shore gleams the contrast of black and white 

 on the turnstone, or oyster-catcher, as he plies his 

 shorter bill among the larger shellfish, while the 

 same colors on the stately stilt enlarge the dig- 

 nity with which, on longer leg, he struts about 

 among the grayer brethren. 



Phalaropes } If there ever were any, they are 



