SNIPE, SAXD-PIPER AND CURLEW 



353 



the Least Sand-Piper,^ — a trifle more minute, 

 and with no web at the base of its toes. At a 

 distance of ten feet the two species loolv precisely 

 ahlve, and there is no need to worry about an 

 exact identification. Tliey are also called 

 "Peeps," and "Ox-eyes," and the toes of the 

 Semipalmated Sand-Piper are partly webbed. 



As the green-topped surf dashes to pieces on 

 the pebbles, and goes sliding in a sih'ery sheet 

 up the yellow sand, you will notice just above 

 its frothy edge a flock of little gray sprites, 

 their tiny legs twinkling as they patter swiftly 

 over the smooth floor. Sometimes the sliding 

 sheet of water overtakes them. If it is nearly 

 spent, they mind it not; but if the rush is too 

 strong, up springs the flock, all members at the 

 same instant, and with ffuick flashes of light 

 gray wings, it skims the surf-sheets or the sand, 

 to a point farther on. The unison of action in 

 the rising, flight, and landing of the flock is as 

 perfect as if each little pair of wings were worked 

 by the same wires. How does each bird know 

 the impulses of all the others? Watch them, 

 and see if you can guess the secret. 



At the sea-shore I never weary of watching 

 these busy little creatures, and never fail to be 

 amused by the twinkling of their tiny legs as 



it has brought to them from the sea, or un- 

 covered on the sand. 



Fortunately these birds are so small the 

 gunners are not slaughtering them — as yet. 





WILSON S SNIPE. 



they run before the water. As the sheet of 



surf recedes, down they run after it, to pick 



up whatever of insect or other edible animal life 



' Ac-io-dro'mas rnin-u-til' la. Average length, 5.50 

 inches. 



LE.\ST S.\ND-PIPER. 



But their day of doom is not far distant. There 

 is in every country on earth a lawless, miscreant 

 element which is devoid of all love for Nature 

 and wild life, and which sticks at nothing in 

 the line of destruction. It pollutes streams, 

 dynamites fish, poisons dogs, steals ash-cans 

 and swill-pails, and kills song-birds for "food." 



Some day, alas! the evil eye of this bad breed 

 will fall upon the flocks of Sand-Pipers by the 

 sea, and on the shores of inland lake, pond and 

 stream. Then the little gray clouds will 

 quickly vanish forever. To-day, however, both 

 the species mentioned above are found sprinkled 

 throughout the whole eastern United States, 

 and they breed northward cjuite up to the 

 arctic Barren Cirounds. Where^'er they are, 

 the}' are interesting birds, and worthy of your 

 friendship. 



The Long-Billed Curlew^ is a bird which 

 has caused much wonderment and many guesses 

 in the Middle West, where on the virgin prairies 

 it once was frequently' seen. This bird's trick 

 of holding its wings high above its back for two 

 or three seconds after it alights upon the ground 

 alwaj's attracts special attention. Its cry, also, 

 oft repeated in spring, is very weird and pe- 

 culiar, and well calculated to make the bird 

 remembered. 



This bird once was common on the rolling 



^ Nv-inen'i-vs lon-gi-ros' tris . Average length, 

 about 23 inches; bill of adult bird, about 8 inches. 



