Snipe, Sandpipers, etc. 



Running nimbly along the mud and sand flats of beaches; 

 over rocks slippery with seaweed ; in marshes and dry, grassy 

 inland meadows too ; or dancing just in advance of the frothing 

 ripples, where the waves break high on the sand, graceful and 

 dainty in every movement they make, these tiny beach birds en- 

 liven our waste places until November storms drive them south. 

 Who cannot recall a walk along some beach made memorable by 

 the cheerful companionship of these gay mites running and flit- 

 ting not far ahead and calling back peep, peep, in response to one's 

 whistle } By far the most numerous waders that visit us, one can 

 scarcely fail to find them, if not in scattered companies apart, then 

 in flocks of their numerous relations. Usually they are busily, 

 playfully gathering larvse, insects, worms, and tiny shell fish that 

 may be picked off the surface or probed for, a quiet intruder not 

 in the least interrupting their dinner. Startle them and they 

 gather into a mass, whirling about, showing their backs as well 

 as their under parts, and with much shrill peeping; but their 

 easily restored confidence soon returns, and they again alight on 

 the good feeding ground, though it may not be a rod away. 



The Semipalmated (half webbed) Sandpiper, or Sand Ox-eye, 

 also known as Peep {Ereunetes pusillus), scarcely more than 

 a half inch longer than the least sandpiper, and so like it in plu- 

 ' mage and habit it may scarcely be distinguished from it in a flock 

 where these two cousins mingle, has its toes half webbed, its 

 diagnostic feature. Those who refuse to shoot birds in order to 

 name them will have some difficulty here. Possibly this sand- 

 piper keeps closer to the water than its little double that is often 

 found in the meadows. Both birds are so frequently seen chasing 

 out after the waves, to pick up the tiny shell fish, worms, etc., 

 they uncover, and more rapidly being chased in by them as the 

 foam curls around their slender legs, that it is impossible to think 

 of either as anything but beach birds. They are marvelously ex- 

 pert in estimating the second they must run from under the comb- 

 ing wave about to break over their tiny heads ; but if the rushing 

 waters threaten a deluge, up they fly, flitting just above the foam- 

 ing ripples until they subside, leaving a harvest behind. The 

 semipalmated sandpiper swims well when lifted off its feet by 

 an unexpected breaker, or when wounded in the wing. 



216 



