34 BIRDS AND POETS 



the April sky, the wild goose, the curlew, the stork, 

 the bittern, the sandpiper, etc., awaken quite a dif- 

 ferent train of emotions from those awakened by 

 the land-birds. They all have clinging to them 

 some reminiscence and suggestion of the sea. Their 

 cries echo its wildness and desolation; their wings 

 are the shape of its billows. 



Of the sandpipers there are many varieties, found 

 upon the coast and penetrating inland along the 

 rivers and watercourses, one of the most interesting 

 of the family, commonly called the "tip-up," going 

 up all the mountain brooks and breeding in the 

 sand along their banks; but the characteristics are 

 the same in all, and the eye detects little difference 

 except in size. 



The walker on the beach sees him running or 

 flitting before him, following up the breakers and 

 picking up the aquatic insects left on the sands; 

 and the trout-fisher along the farthest inland stream 

 likewise intrudes upon its privacy. Flitting along 

 from stone to stone seeking its food, the hind part 

 of its body " teetering " up and down, its soft gray 

 color blending it with the pebbles and the rocks, or 

 else skimming up or down the stream on its long 

 convex wings, uttering its shrill cry, the sandpiper 

 is not a bird of the sea merely; and Mrs. Thaxter's 

 poem is as much for the dweller inland as the 

 dweller upon the coast : — 



