158 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



water. Now and then a flock of least sandpipers, or 

 possibly others, may appear on lake or river margin. 

 In meadows there may be seen an occasional single 

 greater or lesser yellowlegs, or a small flock of them. 

 More numerous in such places is the Wilson's snipe, 

 one of the favorite game-birds. It will flush from 

 the grass before us, sometimes quite close, and dart 

 off rapidly, with a peculiar squeaking cry. The best 

 inland region for shore-birds, however, is the Mis- 

 sissippi valley and adjacent districts, through which 

 there is still a considerable migration, both in spring 

 and fall. 



In meadow or morass the rails become much more 

 abundant than in summer, particularly in early autumn 

 on frosty mornings, and even into October. As we 

 wade about, they flutter up feebly before us, with 

 dangling legs, looking like young birds that can 

 hardly fly. They only fly a few yards and then drop 

 back into the tangle, where they run like witches, it 

 being almost impossible to flush them again for the 

 present. The Virginia rail can be distinguished from 

 the sora by being slightly larger, with a much longer 

 bill and reddish-tinted under-parts. The American 

 coot and the Florida gallinule are mostly seen swim- 

 ming in some wet morass among the reeds, or on a 

 marshy pond among lily-pads. In wading the bogs 

 in autumn one will flush the American bittern more 

 often than at any other time, and also the green heron, 

 and see the solitary great blue heron, an enormous 

 bird, flap warily off beyond gunshot. 



