BIRDS. 477 



" But except from ourselves, the birds have little to fear. Their ene- 

 mies are few, they lead a merry, contented life, and it is no wonder they 

 increase and multiply till they become like armies as to numbers. Besides 

 being gregarious among themselves, they are sociable with other birds, and 

 there is hardly a gathering of waders of any sort anywhere that the peep 

 family is not represented in. Gadabouts, perhaps, they are, but no scandal- 

 mongers ; ubiquitous, turning up everywhere when least expected, but 

 never looked ill upon ; bustling little busybodies, but minding their own 

 business strictly. Besides environing a continent on three sides at least 

 (and perhaps on the Arctic shores as well), not a river, not a creek or 

 pond, the banks of which are not populated at one season or another ; the 

 track of their tiny feet imprinted on the sand of the sea-shore and the soil 

 of the inland water shows where they have gone. Their numbers swell in 

 no small degree the great tide of birds that ceaselessly ebbs and flows once 

 a year in the direction of the polar star ; they taken away, a feature of 

 the land would be lost. Altogether they became imposing, though singly 

 insignificant. If we do not know just what part is given out to them in 

 the great play of nature, at least, we may be assured that they have a 

 part that is faithfully and well performed." 



In the curlews the long bill is bent downwards, in the stilts it is 

 straight, and in the avocets it is curved upwards. The avocets, farther, 

 have a hind toe which is lacking in the stilts. They are more aquatic 

 than some of the forms mentioned above. The American avocet is espe- 

 cially abundant in the Mississippi basin in summer, while the black-necked 

 stilt is more common along the southern shores. In habits these two are 

 much alike, but the stilt has been greatly maligned in the matter of its 

 slender legs, and it has even " been asserted that its leg-bones are as limber 

 as a leathern thong, and that they can be bent up without being broken." 

 This perfectly absurd statement doubtless had its origin in the exaggera- 

 tion of some other statement as to its tottering attitude when the bird 

 first alights. 



The plovers are well-known birds of migratory habits, breeding in the 

 far north, and stopping in our northern states only during their spring 

 and autumn migrations. One of the strangest members of the group is 

 the crooked-bill plover of New Zealand. In this the bill is bent to the 

 right in a curious manner. The first specimen was taken in 1833, and 

 then for years no other specimen was known, and, as a natural result, it 

 was regarded as a monstrosity. In 1869,. however, another was found, 

 and since that time it has been definitely ascertained that this is the 

 normal condition of affairs, and that the crook of the bill is of use to the 

 bird. It seeks its food of insects and shells underneath stones, and here is 



