A Bird's-Eye View 



wading. The group is a varied one as regards 

 size and plumage, averaging much smaller than 

 any other group, containing all the most deli- 

 cate species and some that are brightly colored. 

 It contains also the species that one is most 

 likely to find, as some of them frequent almost 

 all rivers, while others are to be seen along the 

 coast of the Eastern States through the summer. 

 The group comprises several large families, 

 which I will only mention briefly. 



Plovers are among the best known, averag- 

 ing about the size of a thrush, the smallest 

 being the piping plover, with quite a musical 

 note, while the handsomest is the " crested lap- 

 wing," which Tennyson refers to, a common 

 bird in Europe, but belonging to the North 

 American fauna only by virtue of having been 

 seen in Greenland. The golden, kildeer, and 

 mountain plovers are also familiar and attrac- 

 tive species, the last-named being an exception 

 to the class in living entirely away from water. 

 The turnstone, stilt, and avocet, which have al- 

 ready been described, belong to the shore 

 group. Another section of it are the sand- 

 pipers, a numerous and generally plainly colored 

 family; as a rule quite small, the " least sand- 

 piper" being the most diminutive of all our 



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