Music of the Wild 



merelj' to appease the appetite! And how these 

 tinj" legs fly! In fright or excitement they flash 

 across the sand and stones with such rapidity that 

 you can not distinguish their motion, and the ba- 

 bies appear like small airships. 



In all marsh music there is no more plaintive 

 and wholly sweet tone than their faltering, i)lead- 

 infant ing baby notes in rendering the tribal call of the 

 Pipings f .^i^^Jiy_ They pipe it out as if uncertain about its 

 being right, Init perfectly confident that it will 

 bring protection, provided they make it sufficiently 

 pathetic. There never should be any wonder that 

 these mothers so valiantly risk their lives for their 

 babies. 



The wonder should be if they did not; and \\'hen 

 A\e stop to think of it we realize that it is for these 

 things we love them. To kno-\v the killdeer is to 

 delight in its music and respect its character. Ex- 

 cepting the upland species, that also like marshy 

 places, the remainder of the members of the plover 

 family are more constant to the marsh, taking- 

 pleasure trips, nesting and raising their babies, and 

 their notes are among the most attractive of its 

 music. They have three distinctive utterances com- 

 monly heard. 



Tlie common plover note is a clear, penetrating 

 Avhistle, long-drawn, mellow, resonant — l)eautiful 

 music. Their mating cry, very seldom heard ex- 

 cei)t l)et'i\een a ])air busy witli household affairs 



nc,2 



