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Bird - Lore 



and devouring of all eggs and nestlings that they could find. The second 

 catastrophe in the Sandpiper household was due to the cunning of these cradle- 

 snatching rascals. One morning the light-colored Jaeger made a rush for a 

 juvenile Sandpiper, but the mother gave the alarm in time for the young to 

 flatten their bodies, stretch their necks forward and remain motionless, thereby 

 so resembling the brown-and-black spotted clumps of moss as to be practically 

 invisible. The oldest youngster, always impatient, did not wait for his mother's 

 note of assurance of the danger being past, but started up as soon as he saw 

 the Jaeger fly on down the lagoon. He seemed to have forgotten all about the 

 other Jaeger which had slipped up behind them in the excitement and now 

 darted in and carried off the shrieking youngster. From that time on the 

 'Birdman' adopted the Eskimo custom of shooting at every Jaeger that came 

 within range. 



By July 26, the young were almost as large as their parents and practically 

 full-fledged, although occasional bits of natal down still clung to them in places. 

 By this time several families had joined together and soon there were large 

 flocks that swooped and circled about high in the air in preparation for their 

 long journey South. There was no visible reason for their early departure, for 

 there seemed still to be an abundant supply of food; certainly much more than 

 there was when the first birds arrived in the spring. However, on August 2, 

 large flocks were seen circling high overhead and leaving for the South. In a 

 few more days the wee Sandpipers were all gone and the shallow tundra pools 

 lay forsaken and tenantless in the waning Arctic sunlight. 



UNFAVORABLE ICE CONDITIONS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, JULY 25, 1914 



