100 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



than the plover's, and are making the best 

 of the high tide, which has driven them from 

 their feeding-grounds, by taking a siesta. 

 Once, when I look that way, which I can 

 do only now and then, there are so many 

 distractions, I find the whole eight with 

 their bills tucked under their wings. Now, 

 is n't that a pretty sight ! Their name, as 

 I say, is the redbacked sandpiper; but at 

 this season their upper parts are of a uni- 

 form mouse color, or soft, dark gray I 

 hardly know how to characterize it. It is 

 very distinctive, whatever word we use, and 

 equally so is the shape of the bill, long and 

 stout, with a downward inflection at the tip. 

 Eight birds, did I say ? No, there are nine, 

 for I have just discovered another, not on 

 the island, but under the very edge of the 

 grassy bank on which I am standing. He 

 has a broken leg, poor fellow, and seems to 

 prefer being by himself ; but by and by, 

 with a sudden cry of alarm, for which I can 

 see no occasion, he flies to rejoin his mates. 

 Meanwhile, seven white-rumps have come 

 and settled near them ; the same flock that 

 I saw yonder on the roadside beach, I have 



