NIAGARA RIVER AND THE DUCKS. 401 



the center, is tipped with white or whitish; the neck, breast 

 and sides, yellowish-gray, with dark streaks; legs greenish. 

 The breast marking is differentiating. It is sometimes 

 called the Jack Snipe. 



Of very frequent appearance during these days is the 

 Sanderling or Ruddy Plover (Calidris arenaria). Some 7.50 

 long, it has the rather short, straight, grooved bill, and the 

 plain-colored tail of the Sandpipers. The upper parts are 

 light ashy, streaked with black, and edged with reddish in 

 summer, but not in winter; the under parts, from the neck, 

 are pure white, making each member of the flock a gleam- 

 ing white point in the landscape, as it tips up in flight. This 

 Beach-bird, as it is often called, i's rather silent, appearing 

 singly or in flocks. Its flight is beautiful, and it walks, 

 wades and runs most gracefully on the shore. These Sand- 

 pipers, like their relatives, breed far to the north. 



On a gray October day, a flock of some half-dozen little 

 Brown Titlarks (Anthus ludovicianus) alights in the shallow 

 water on the rocks and wash themselves. Some 6.50 long, 

 ashy-brown above, tinged with olive, the centers of 

 the feathers darker and the edges lighter; the outer tail- 

 feathers white; the eyelids, curved line on the cheeks, and 

 under parts, brownish or creamy-white ; the breast and 

 sides streaked with dusky-ash. This dainty, dove-like 

 walker, having a peculiar jerking, tossing motion of the tail, 

 breeds in Labrador and northward, and down to Colorado 

 in the Rocky Mountains. The 4-6 very dark-colored eggs 

 are laid " in a mossy nest on the ground." This bird passes 

 us early in May in its northward migration, and in October 

 southward. 



NIAGARA RIVER AND THE DUCKS. 



Niagara River is a good place to study the Ducks in the 

 times of migration, or even in the winter. As it does not- 



