BLACK-WINGED LONGSIIAXKS. 
pair, takes up its residence during' the breeding sea- 
son. About the first week in May they begin to con- 
struct their nests, which are at lirst slightly formed 
of a small quantity of old grass, scarcely sufficient to 
keep tlie eggs from the wet marsh. As they lay and 
sit, however, either dreading the rise of the tides, 
or for some other purpose, the nest is increased in 
height with dry twigs of a shrub very common in 
the marshes, roots of the salt -grass, sea-weed, and 
various other substances, the whole weighing between 
two and three pounds. This habit of adding mate- 
rials to the nest after the female begins sitting is 
common to almost all other birds that breed in the 
marshes. The eggs are four in number, of a dark- 
yellowish clay colour, thickly marked with large 
blotches of black. These nests are often placed 
within fifteen or twenty yards of each other ; but the 
greatest harmony seems to prevail among the pro- 
prietors. While the females are sitting, the males 
are either wading through the ponds, or roaming over 
the adjoining marshes ; but should a person make his 
appearance, the whole collect together in the air, 
dying with their long legs extended behind them, 
keeping up a continual yelping note of click-cUck- 
cUck. Their flight is steady, and not in short 
sudden jerks like that of the Plover. As they fre- 
quently alight upon the bare marsh, they drop their 
w ings, stand with their legs half bent, and tremble 
as if unable to sustain the burthen of their bodies : 
in this ridiculous posture they will sometimes stand 
for several niinutes, uttering a cryhig sound, while, 
from the corresponding quiverings of their wing^, and 
