Teeters, Nods, and Bobs 



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usual, facing about this way and that, saluting all points of the com- 

 pass with its hinder parts— for such is the original way the tip-up has 

 of conducting his courtship. 



I have been told, though I have never seen it, that hardly 

 are the young born before they assume the habit of teetering, 

 and when they are merely balls of down they can be seen 

 running about wagging their tails. I have also been told that 

 they cease teetering when they hunt and are ready to take 

 an insect, but I have never noticed it. For me, the spotted 

 sandpiper will always be the bird with the unstoppable tail. 

 When they come to the marsh— and I have seen them every 

 spring and fall for years— I have watched them move from 

 stranded log to log, to lily pads, never far from shore, always 

 giving their pleasant peet-weet and always teetering. When 

 I first saw them I wondered why they were never still. None 



