THE SOLITARY SANDPIPER 189 



and peace of the meadow brook to the changing 

 scenes of the wider world of his big cousins, 

 the ''winter" and ''summer yellow-legs." 

 Around some lonely pool in pasture land or 

 meadow he gleans his fare of insects and larvae 

 scarcely ever breaking the quiet of his haunt 

 with a whistle, for he is the silent member of the 

 family, more taciturn than anj^ of the tribe, and 

 content with the company of his own thoughts. 

 This bird is not confined to the marshes of the 

 coast ; he is fully as likely to be found in the in- 

 terior, and is a common visitor in almost any 

 suitable spot on the North American continent. 

 If you come suddenly into a narrow run-way, its 

 high protecting banks shutting out the rest of 

 the world with a thick wall of brush and trees, 

 and overgrown with long grass, with still and 

 shallow waters, stagnant and slow, — the chosen 

 haunt of bittern and heron, — on muddy edge or 

 slimy stone standing sentinel over all is the 

 "Solitary." Sometimes his mate is near by or 

 perhaps his nearly grown family has not yet 

 left the parental care, and all make off in haste 

 the instant you have fairly shown yourself. 

 You note that his flight is much like that of the 

 spotted sandpiper, his wings down-curved in the 



