Music of the Wild 



merely to appease the appetite! And how these 

 tiny legs fly! In fright or excitement they flash 

 across the sand and stones with such rapidity that 

 you can not distinguish their motion, and the ba- 

 bies appear like small airships. 



In all marsh music there is no more plaintive 



and wholly sweet tone than their faltering, plead- 



infant ing baby notes in rendering the tribal call of the 



Pipings family^ They pipe it out as if uncertain about its 



being right, but perfectly confident that it will 



bring protection, provided they make it sufficiently 



pathetic. There never should be any wonder that 



these mothers so valiantly risk their lives for their 



babies. 



The wonder should be if they did not ; and when 

 we stop to think of it w r e realize that it is for these 

 things we love them. To know the killdeer is to 

 delight in its music and respect its character. Ex- 

 cepting the upland species, that also like marshy 

 places, the remainder of the members of the plover 

 family are more constant to the marsh, taking 

 pleasure trips, nesting and raising their babies, and 

 their notes are among the most attractive of its 

 music. They have three distinctive utterances com- 

 monly heard. 



The common plover note is a clear, penetrating 

 whistle, long-drawn, mellow, resonant beautiful 

 music. Their mating cry, very seldom heard ex- 

 cept between a pair busy with household affairs 

 362 



