196 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



late in April, according to the weather. It does not 

 make much of a stay, but hurries northward, and reap- 

 pears in August and September. Every summer, how- 

 ever, a few remain and breed. 



When the wood-tattlers arrive in May, they are most- 

 ly found in the wet meadows, often in flocks of from 

 twelve to twenty, and are usually so silent that, if not 

 seen, their presence would not be suspected. Many a 

 time, when cro aching in the long grass on the margin 

 of a meadow brook, watching the frogs or fish, as the 

 case might be, I have seen these sand-pipers alight with- 

 in a few feet of me, and wander about in full view, yet 

 never uttering a sound. After a long flight, to see them 

 set their wings and pitch towards the ground, and when 

 very near it, to check their course and settle, is to wit- 

 ness the acme of graceful motion. Another exquisite 

 movement is that of raising their wings as their feet 

 touch the ground, and then folding them gracefully. I 

 know of no ordinary habit of our many birds that is so 

 uniformly attractive. 



But if quiet during the day, it is not so always. Tow- 

 ards the close of the day, and sometimes until long after 

 sunset, instead of hunting for food in a staid, methodical 

 manner, they indulge in aerial antics that exceed the 

 wooing woodcock in fantastic high and lofty tumbling. 

 A half-dozen or more will dart at one another when at a 

 great elevation, yet never come into actual contact, and 

 then, with loud and pleasing whistling, dart down and 

 perch upon the very top of some tall tree, and there 

 bow and bend with all the f ussiness of a dancing-master. 



These antics occur towards the end of their spring- 



