Song Birds and Water Fowl 



speaking of this most prominent feature of many 

 of the water fowl, I must not fail to mention 

 the most singular of all, the long-billed curlew, 

 or "sickle-bill," with a bill sometimes eight 

 inches long, and curved downward, the reverse 

 of the avocet. 



Sandpipers as a class have neutral colors, but 

 there is an occasional exception to this, as in 

 the red - backed sandpiper ; while the red- 

 breasted, or "robin snipe," is a large and 

 handsome species, a genuine water robin. Our 

 tiniest swimmer is the little phalarope, its body 

 not so large as that of the hermit thrush, and 

 one species is handsomely costumed in dark 

 wine-color, white and black. 



The "sea-parrot" shows another distinct 

 type, and has a parrot-shaped bill, but is not so 

 ungainly as its namesake on land. This comes 

 down from the North in winter as far as Long 

 Island Sound. An allied species, called the 

 sea-dove, has plumage suggestive of our familiar 

 little snow-bird — dark-blue above and on breast, 

 passing abruptly into white beneath. 



We have two prominent and interesting 

 groups of water birds among us, belonging, as 

 we shall see hereafter, to the "marsh group" — 

 herons, which resort to wooded swamps, either 



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