A MOUNTAIN POND 101 



tame, was n't the least afraid of anything or 

 anybody, merely moving aside to avoid an 

 oar-blade, and swaying almost on to the 

 rocks with the swirl of the water. I watched 

 him till I was tired, and went away and left 

 him there still cheerfully frisking. I am so 

 glad to tell you of something you have n't 

 seen ! " 



A year afterward (May 29, 1892), she 

 wrote again, with equal enthusiasm : "If I 

 only had a house of my own here I should 

 make a business of trying desperately hard 

 to bring you here, if only for one of your 

 spare Sundays, to see the ' bay birds ' that 

 have been round here literally by the thou- 

 sands for the last month, the swimming 

 sandpipers — so beautiful ! In great flocks 

 that wheel and turn, and, flying in long 

 masses over the water, show now dark, now 

 dazzling silver as they careen and show the 

 white lining of their wings, like a long, bril- 

 liant, fluttering ribbon. I never heard of so 

 many before, about here." 



The birds seen at the Isles of Shoals were 

 doubtless either red phalaropes or northern 

 phalaropes, — or, not unlikely, both, — " sea 

 snipe," they are often called; two pelagic, 



