THE OOLOGIST. 



15 



just above our heads like the scattered, 

 white-sailed, black-prowed ships of a 

 mighty fleet, which, with marvellous 

 unanimity, then and always, moi'ning, 

 noonday or evening, in calm, or 

 cloud, or furiously driviug storm, move 

 ever toward the same unknown harbor, 

 and the Forster Terns: who shall ade- 

 quately describe their half sociable, 

 half ill natured way, their noisy, eager 

 pilfering of fish and craws, from one 

 another, their semipiternal hatred of 

 and fierce diving at, the clumsy, luck- 

 less Herons! Another week passes. 

 April 26th, at the Lake, alone, with 

 murderous intent, I scared a Florida 

 Gallinule from her partial set of eggs, 

 among the rushes: aroused from their 

 nap a trio of Ruddy Ducks, one a bril- 

 liant male; sighted, for the second time 

 a large Gull of unknown name; flushed 

 to my surprise, a Wood Duck, (but they 

 breed here on the ground); and vented 

 my vexation for a fruitless day in a 

 quick snap-shot at a solitary Godwit 

 winging bj', which pi'oved a foeda and 

 a male, (a barren runt at that!) 



There was a broad, fire-swept shal- 

 low, far back from the apparent shore, 

 the haunt of countless Waders, the hid- 

 den nook wherein the Gulls, by dozens, 

 came at mid-afternoon to rest and sun 

 themselves. A cemetery it was too; 

 for in the verj^ center lay the body of 

 one of those ten Pelicans, whom, by 

 his lagging I had known to be doomed 

 to death. This spot I sought, June 2. 

 Among the flags near by, I found two 

 nests of the Western Grebe, that after- 

 noon, besides a rudimentary and two- 

 egged one of Podice'ps. I had passed 

 the dead body of a young Red-breasted 

 Merganser, victim of some wanton gun- 

 ner; had peered into many a nest of 

 Coots, among the flags; and started a few 

 Soras and Virginias from their canopied 

 and egg-ballasted lairs, and was creeping 

 cautiously toward my well-known flat, 

 to see what I could see, when among 

 the pigmy Pelidnas, I saw four greater 



birds, with the "gray of the sky and the 

 black of the soil upon their garbs, and 

 with very large heads, whose poise of 

 wary intentions conirasf ed sharply with 

 the surrounding Pelidnic unconcern. 

 "Black-bellied Plovers!" I ejaculated as 

 a frantic guess, Away went discretion 

 and a wild charge of shot, together; 

 tangible result, feathers and one little 

 peep! "They'll come back!" 1 muttered; 

 and, drawing my boat among the rushes 

 I seated myself on the bow, lunch be- 

 fore me and gun behind me. I had 

 caught the PloA^er's note; and, before 

 the lunch had vanished, (I, the while, 

 intently watching the mud flat before 

 me), I suddenly heard the note behind 

 me, wheeling-quickly I caught up the 

 gun, and the swift flying Plover fell in 

 a maze of rushes, winged of course! and 

 find him I could not! Disgusted 1 drew 

 out the boat and began to row away. 

 But soon looking back I saw in a bare 

 shallow just athwart the maze where 

 my bird had fallen, my bird himself up 

 to his knees in the water and eyeing me 

 with the most profound astonishment. 

 And so, have you an elegant skin of the 

 Black-bellied Ployer in your cabinet? 

 Well then I pity you! 



This fall I have added the Dowitcher 

 and Wilson's Snipe to my list of Heron 

 Lake waders. Pelidnas have been sup- 

 erabundant, and the Yellow-legs in 

 both varieties fairly represented. But 

 no period of abundance for the Yellow- 

 legs has been so marked or so puzzling 

 as that which prevailed from June 15th 

 until midsummer. After a month's ab- 

 sence, less than that if anything, they 

 re-appeared in flocks of ten to fifty 

 swarming noisilj'' and fearlessly evei'y- 

 where, on the great wastes of mud-flat 

 that were daily growing larger with the 

 prolonged drought. The Lesser out- 

 numbered the Greater, at this period, 

 about four or five to one. Many causes 

 prevented my taking and dissecting a 

 sufficient number of bii'ds to prove any- 



