BIRDS OF PEASE MARSH 



heads look like tassels, and when they run they 

 are like tassels blowing away. As soon as they 

 are big enough to move about they must follow 

 their mother when she is catching their meals, 

 for she will not bring food to them any longer 

 than is necessary. By following her up they 

 learn how to hunt for themselves, for soon, 

 very soon, baby birds must make their own 

 way in their world of dangers and disasters. 



The food she is catching for them consists of 

 earthworms and insects, beetles being a par- 

 ticular delicacy. Hunting over the fields from 

 morning till night a family of Killdeer will 

 dispose of a large number of injurious insects. 

 They are the farmers' friends and he may well 

 stop the team to move to a place of safety the 

 Killdeer*s eggs when he comes upon them. 



Only towards autumn do these birds leave 

 the farms where they nest and gather in flocks 

 along the shore of rivers and lakes. They are 

 meeting to arrange for their long journey 

 south, where they must go when the frost comes 

 and they can no longer find food with us. They 

 must use their beautiful wings now. Perhaps 

 there is something in the philosophy of the 

 small boy who said they ran in the summer in- 



[131] 

 j 



