Sandpipers. 329 



CHAPTER XX. 



WILDFOWL OF THE LAKE SEA BIRDS DRIFT WOOD 



FORCES OF NATURE AT WORK WAVES EVAP- 

 ORATION AN EAGLE FROST AND SNOW EF- 

 FECT ON BIRDS AND ANIMALS WATER-MEAD- 

 OWS SHOOTING STARS PHOSPHORESCENCE 



WATERSPOUT NOISES ' IN THE AIR.' 



THE ' summer snipe,' or sandpiper, comes to the 

 lake regularly year after year, and remains during 

 the warm months. About a dozen visit the shallow 

 sandy reaches running along the edge of the water, 

 when disturbed flying off just above the surface with 

 a plaintive piping cry. They describe a semicircle, 

 and come back to the shore a hundred yards farther 

 on ; and will do this as many times as you like to 

 put them up. Sometimes they feed in little parties 

 of two or three : sometimes alone. No other place for 

 some distance is visited by the sandpiper : none of 

 the ponds or brooks ; only the lake. 



In summer but a few species of birds remain on 

 this piece of water. Only two or three wild ducks 

 stay to breed : their nests are not found on the mere 

 itself, but in the ponds adjacent. One small pond 

 fed by the lake and communicating with it dug 

 where the muddy shore would otherwise prevent 

 cattle approaching the shallow water a quiet spot 



