228 WILD WINGS 



Again and again she approached almost to the nest, only to 

 flee in dismay. Finally, becoming bolder, after twenty min- 

 utes of this hesitancy, without warning she suddenly fairly 

 " scooted " over the moss and settled down upon her eggs. 

 Snap went the shutter, and her portrait was mine. Instantly 



MOTHER LEAST SANDPIPER. "ALIGHTED ON THE POSTS AND WIRE" 



she darted off in great fright, too much alarmed to venture 

 again. So I photographed the nest and eggs and withdrew. 

 Four years later, again in June, I was back at the Magda- 

 lens. Daily passing along a road by a fisherman's house 

 revealed nothing notable, until one day, at the very end of 

 our stay, one of our party, passing this spot, was attracted by 

 the actions of a pair of Least Sandpipers. Desperate with 

 anxiety, they fluttered along the road before him and alighted, 

 vociferating, on the posts and wire of the fence. Upon learn- 



