100 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS 



ingly over the sand and turning back frequently with 

 frightened stare^ Continued nesting from the end of 

 May to the first week of July suggests the possibility 

 of a second brood* As soon as the young are hatched 

 they leave the nest and run over the sand, little 

 helpless balls of grey down* But their wing quills 

 grow rapidly, and soon the careful mother is free 

 for her southward journey* When night makes the 

 more subdued sounds of the marsh audible the Sora 

 Rail cackles distinctly in the dense rushes, and the 

 whistle of the invisible Night-hawk reveals the active 

 life of the upper air* A subduing pause is broken 

 by the close, sharp, repeated note of the Spotted 

 Sandpiper, intolerant of intrusion even on the moon- 

 lit reaches of the sandy shore^ 



