THE LEAST SANDPIPER. 



5" 



drab or grayish buff, speckled and spotted with deep chestnut and purplish gray. 

 Av. size, 1. 15 X .85 (29.2 X 21.1). 



General Range. — The whole of North and South America, breeding north of 

 the United States. 



Range in Ohio. — Common migrant. 



IT is with a distinct sense of privilege that one is permitted to gaze 

 upon a company of these elfin waders at meal time. Not soon shall I forget 

 a Sunday stroll which led past the corner of a certain brickyard pond on a 

 bright May after- 

 noon. A tiny babel 

 of soft peeping had 

 given us warning of 

 what we might ex- 

 pect to see, if we 

 managed to steal up 

 to the edge of the 

 shallow cut unob- 

 served. By exercis- 

 ing care and pa- 

 tience, both my wife 

 and I succeeded in 

 seating ourselves on 

 the near brink with- 

 out alarming the lit- 

 tle strangers. They 

 seemed to accept us 

 as a part of that gra- 

 cious horizon which 

 is the birthright of 

 both innocence and 

 optimism. So' con- 

 fiding were they that 

 at a distance of thir- 

 ty feet they not only 

 went on in their 

 quest of food, but 

 one had a sound nap 

 on shore, a Sunday 

 nap, with his head 

 tucked snugly un- 

 der his wing. 



In their search for food the Peeps appeared to depend entirely upon their 

 bright eyes to spy tidbits and unguessable delicacies in the shallow water or 



Taken at Cedar Point. 



Photo by the Author. 



SANDPIPF.R PARK. 



