CHOCORUA, 227 



chattering, with tails wide spread, over the 

 water. In the orchard opposite, a great-crested 

 flycatcher screamed and flew from tree to tree. 

 Her nest was in the gaping hollow of an apple 

 trunk, and on its outer edge a bit of snake-skin 

 caught the light. No eggs had as yet been laid. 

 The muffled drumming of a grouse could be felt 

 by the ear as its heavy throbbing came down 

 from high woods back of the orchard. 



The Chocorua Biver has three phases of life 

 above the pond, mountain torrent ; placid 

 meadow brook and mill pond ; and forest river 

 full of deep amber pools, dams of fallen trees 

 and sawmill waste, and noisy falls and rapids. 

 The road avoids the forest part and emerges on 

 the mill pond and meadow. The meadow was 

 alive with birds. At the ford a solitary tattler 

 was feeding. He was an object of no small 

 interest, for the breeding season was at hand 

 and the nest of this species has never been 

 taken and satisfactorily identified. He was so 

 tame that I walked to within twenty paces of 

 him before he flew, and then he went but a 

 short distance. The coloring of his plumage 

 suggested tiny waves breaking over a sandy 

 shore. He has not the teetering habit to the 

 extent that his cousin, the spotted sandpiper, 

 has, but he is far from steady in his walk. 

 Barn swallows by dozens skimmed the surface 



