THE SHORE BIRDS. 211 



the Tell-tale. In the middle of June I observed this species in the 

 vicinity of Burlington, New Jersey, but I could not discover its nest." 



With the birds of the vicinity of Burlington I am 

 very familiar, and I have never found the nest of this 

 bird there ; but I am confident that it breeds in the 

 highlands of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the op- 

 posite side of the Delaware River. 



In April and again in late July, and from then until 

 the weather cools, there are two pretty little sand- 

 pipers that make for me the sandy ocean-shore ex- 

 ceedingly attractive ; these are the Least and Semi- 

 palmated " Peeps," as they are so generally called. 

 The Least Sand-piper is the more abundant of the 

 two, and comes with more regularity along our rivers, 

 especially in autumn ; but they are best seen running 

 on the beaches of old ocean, following the receding 

 wave and never being overwhelmed by the incoming 

 deluge. Flush them and the cheery "peep" sounds 

 loud and clear above the roar of the ocean, and with 

 what confidence they speed over the troubled water, 

 almost venturing to touch it with their toes as it 

 rushes madly beneath them! This is one of the 

 many sights in the bird-world that I never tire of. 



The true Plovers, of which there are many kinds, 

 are an interesting family, and coming within the scope 

 of sportsmen's game-birds, are well known to people 

 who measure a bird only by the toothsome qualities 

 of its flesh. To some people, however, a whistling 

 quail is as dear a song-bird as is the melancholy 

 thrush or exultant grosbeak. 



The larger forms, as the Black-bellied and Golden 

 Plover, are migratory birds that nest well up in the 



