A Bay on the Bay Shore, 



brownish yellow, and the other mark- 

 ings 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 probing 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, some- 

 times of considerable numbers, and are 

 never more at home than when tripping 

 lightly over the soaking mud-flats, 

 searching for the minute forms of ma- 

 rine life that constitute their food. 

 Their flight is vigorous, yet light, and 

 they are fond of sudden turns and evo- 

 lutions on the wing. 



See that little flock now, as it 

 alights on an exposed strip of mud. 

 It is a company of semipalmated, or, 

 perchance, of least sandpipers, for so 

 similar are the two birds in their winter 

 94 



