280 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
to lure him away by counterfeiting lameness. Their notes of remonstrance 
are a quick, loud and shrill whistle, and sound like the syllables ’wheep, 
’wheep, 'wheo. Somewhat similar expressions are made use of while at 
rest, as well as upon the wing. 
In about five weeks from the time of quitting the nest, the young 
cut themselves loose from the mother’s guiding-strings, and fight their own 
battles with life. They do not wholly withdraw from their parents, but 
help to form the flocks we see migrating in the fall. A striking feature 
of this movement is the regularity with which it is performed. Like 
marshalled troops they hold together in lines, rise, descend and wheel 
about with wonderful precision, and effect other feats equally remarkable. 
However disturbed by the sportsman, they fill up the gaps which are 
wrought in their ranks, and j)ursue their course in the most perfect order. 
On the wing they move with considerable vigor and velocity. In running, 
swimming and diving they are equally expert, and by the last two methods, 
when wounded, are able to circumvent their enemies. 
In their earliest stage the young are covered with down, of the color 
of sand, and have a brownish-black bar on the neck, back and rump. In 
their mature state, the head and neck are blackish, with tinge of brown 
or ashy, and the hack ashy-brown. The eyelid, rump, lower parts from 
the breast, tips of greater wing-coverts, most of secondaries and basal part 
of tail feathers are white, while the rest of the tail, and the quills, are 
blackish. The legs are flesh-colored, and the bill and edges of eyelids red 
or orange. Their length runs from seventeen to eighteen inches, the wing 
being ten, tail four and a half, and hill three. 
The eggs of this bird are three in number, ovoidal in shape, and are 
marked with numerous hlackish-hrown spots and blotches upon a creamy- 
drab background. Their dimensions vary from 2.31 to 2.13 inches in the 
long direction and from 1.63 to 1.49 in the short. But one setting is 
yearly laid. In the drawing they appear of natural size, hut the birds 
are considerably reduced. 
