314 Tbe Water-fowl Family 



There is something fascinating about the 

 marsh seen in this way, and even mosquitoes do 

 not detract from the charm of it. With the 

 heavy storms of August and September the salt- 

 water meadows along the coast are often a shelter 

 for birds otherwise seldom seen on them. The 

 golden plover drop in now and then, and the 

 redbreast. I have seen phalarope in the little 

 pools among the grass; hence during the end 

 of a storm or immediately after is the time. 

 Dowitchers are marsh dwellers, and not infre- 

 quently lie close in the grass. They rise with the 

 twist of a Wilson's snipe. 



Lastly comes the most important. I speak of 

 him last for the reason his habits differ from the 

 other shore-birds, and then, too, because a good 

 thing is often fitting at the end, — the Wilson's 

 snipe. 



This bird is the favorite of them all, and has 

 paid the price of popularity. The haunts of 

 the Wilson's snipe differ from those of the 

 other waders. While he is on many of the 

 marshes they frequent, his happy home is the bog 

 where the marsh is so soft it shakes as you 

 step from tussock to tussock. Here in the 

 treacherous mire he may escape — may treach- 

 erous mires long last ! On the dry marshes the 

 snipe stops, but the time of his lingering is gen- 

 erally short. Dog and man pursue him. Little 



