A MOUNTAIN POND 73 



being rare, they make themselves uncommon 

 enough to be always interesting ; and they 

 have, besides, one really famous trait, — the 

 extraordinary secrecy of their breeding oper- 

 ations. Well known as they are, and wide 

 as is their distribution, their eggs, so far 

 as I am aware, are still unrepresented in 

 scientific collections except by a single 

 specimen found almost twenty years ago in 

 Vermont ; a "record," as we say in these 

 days, of which Totanus solitarius may right- 

 fully be proud. 



About another part of the pond, on this 

 same afternoon (May 8), were two sand- 

 pipers of a more ordinary sort : spotted 

 sandpipers, familiar objects, we may fairly 

 say, the whole country over. Few American 

 schoolboys but have laughed at their absurd 

 teetering motions. In this respect the soli- 

 tary sandpiper is better behaved. It does 

 not teeter — it hohs ; standing still, as if 

 in deep thought, and then dipping forward 

 quickly (a fanciful observer might take the 

 movement for an affirmative gesticulation, 

 an involuntary " Yes, yes, now I have it ! ") 

 and instantly recovering itself, exactly in the 

 manner of a plover. This is partly what 



