152 WITH THE SEA-LOVERS 



these most useful members, before his wings 

 are of use, he can run like a flash much 

 faster than any boy. He comes out of the 

 egg all dressed in soft gray down, and looks 

 like a tiny shadow flitting over the ground. 



A friend tells a story of the cleverness of 

 a sandpiper in outwitting a hawk. When 

 the little bird, flying ahead of a small boat 

 on a river, saw the hawk hovering over his 

 head, talons dropped, ready to seize him, he 

 suddenly disappeared completely from sight 

 of both the hawk and the man. The great 

 bird looked anxiously about, still hovering 

 in the same spot, turning his head this way 

 and that, evidently amazed by the mystery. 

 At last he gave it up and flew away, but the 

 man watched closely, and in a few minutes 

 saw a tiny head about as big as a walnut 

 thrust out of the water, which was ten feet 

 deep in that place. It turned every way, 

 looking sharply for the enemy, and seeing 

 the coast clear, the sandpiper came to the 

 surface, shook out his wings, and rising into 

 the air with the greatest ease, proceeded on 

 his way. He had been entirely submerged. 



Sometimes on the shore I had a study of 



