The Birds and Poets 89 



Celia Thaxter's "One Little Sandpiper and I," 

 known to us all, is a classic among bird poems.* 



As I passed on up the creek, the current became 

 slower, and the banks higher, and I kept a look- 

 out for bank swallows' nests, for I had already seen 

 a number of these birds darting about over the 

 water and the adjoining meadows. At the next 

 turn in the stream I saw one of them fly into a hole 

 in the bank, about three feet below the sod cornice, 

 and about six feet above the water. I walked along 

 the bank, and as I stepped on the spot directly over 

 the opening of the nest, the female bird fluttered 

 out with the familiar twitter which Bryant called 

 the "gossip of the swallows." I scrambled down 

 to the water's edge, and peered into the hole, which 

 was just two and one-quarter inches in diameter 

 at the opening. Having no mirror or artificial 

 light of any sort, I could not see the nest itself, 

 though some stems of heavy grass protruded to 

 within five or six inches of the opening, and the 

 nest appeared to be only about four inches farther 

 back. If so, it was unusually shallow, as the holes 

 are frequently two or three feet deep. Rather than 

 disturb the nest, or the approach to it, I adopted 

 another course to find out what was in it. Seating 

 myself on a stump near by, which commanded a 

 good view of the little round hole in the bank I 

 waited and within five minutes the female returned 

 and darted around the opening, making several 

 approaches to it without entering, apparently 



* Copyright restrictions prevent its quotation. 



