354 THE MOUNTAIN. 



WATER BIRDS. 



IT has been already stated that but few water birds either 

 visit or reside on the mountain. The reason of this is ob- 

 vious, as the medium in which the aquatic species are con- 

 stituted to exist is, to a great extent, wanting there. In the 

 valleys east and west, through which the streams pass and 

 their waters accumulate in pools, there are a number of 

 birds of this division. 



GRALLATORES, (Tern.) Wading birds. These are birds 

 with long, extremely thin legs, stilting them up in an ex- 

 travagant and ridiculous manner from ludicrous dispropor- 

 tions in length and extreme tenuity ; bills cunningly-devised 

 and of mechanical structure fitted to capture their prey, 

 and spiritual endowments relating them harmoniously to 

 their habitats. 



CHARADRIUS Yociferus, (Linn.) Kill-deer plover. This 

 is a noisy well-known bird, found every place between the 

 twentieth and fifty-ninth parallels, breeding from Texas to 

 Massachusetts, and extending his range as far west as the 

 Rocky Mountains. He has nocturnal habits, feeding at 

 twilight, and flying around on moonlight nights making 

 great noise with his usual cry of kill-deer. 



CHARADRIUS Helveticus. Black-bellied, or Swiss plover. 

 This plover breeds in Pennsylvania, but is not often seen on 

 the Alleghany. Its geographic range is nearly the extent 

 of the continent. It is seen on the eastern and western sides 

 of the mountain in the cleared portions, and in neighbor- 

 hood of the streams. It breeds, according to Nuttall, 

 "from Pennsylvania to the very extremity of the arctic 

 regions." 



