2o8 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



within the limits of our villages. I have seen it along 

 roadsides very often, but never so tame as in a vil- 

 lage in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where it fol- 

 lowed a little creek that passed through the place, 

 and ran under a simple bridge and was not disturbed 

 by passing teams. It would leave the water and 

 skurry over the dusty wagon-tracks, dodging the 

 horses as do the English sparrows, and when in- 

 duced to fly, only moved a few yards away. 



The Solitary Sand-piper, a little larger and darker- 

 colored bird than the preceding, is another species 

 that leaves what might be considered its proper 

 haunts and comes very close to civilization. The 

 name " solitary" is not altogether a well-chosen one. 

 These birds appear in spring, and we often see a con- 

 siderable number of them together. They are then 

 usually about the wet meadows, and have a decided 

 fancy for newly-ploughed fields where water lies in 



the furrows; and 

 again, it is noth- 

 ing unusual for 

 one to be sur- 

 prised in or very 

 near a barn-yard, 



hunting for in- 

 Solitary Sand-piper, sects in the very 

 black, fetid, and 



repulsive pools. I have often been surprised at the 

 actions of these birds when startled and forced to 

 leave a spot to which they have been attracted. 

 With a flirt of their slender wings they dart off, and 

 gradually rise to an immense height and sometimes 



