Two Sandpipers 
207 
bayberry leaves. The four pear-shaped eggs look very dark — a drab 
background, heavily mottled with brown or black. Madam soon returns 
with her husband, and both trot around near by, piping their complaints 
at our intrusion. On one memorable occasion, by setting my camera 
focused on the nest, I obtained a picture of the brooding mother. 
The chicks are the daintiest little mites that one can imagine — little 
brown balls mottled with white, and comical enough they are, perched 
up on the rather long, slender stems that pass for legs. Frequently 
they are hatched in the wet pasture-land close to the cottages of the fish- 
ing settlements. While walking along the road and approaching the 
house where we were stopping, I saw a pair of these Sandpipers acting 
as if very anxious, alighting on the posts and top wire of the fence, 
piping their complaints. Well did I know what was ^ 
up, and after a considerable hunt I found the four Nursery 
chicks lying close together, flat on the ground. The 
little Sandpiper might not be averse to civilization, if unmolested ; but 
what chance does such a brood have near houses against prowling cats ! 
The nesting season of these Sandpipers^ — and, for that matter, of all 
the shore-birds — is very brief. Such small species do not take long to 
mature. Thus surprisingly early in the summer, often soon after the 
middle of July, they begin to straggle back to us, as if the arctic wilder- 
ness were too cold and lonely to interest them longer. 
As far as I am familiar with the shore-birds the adults precede the 
young on the southward migration, leaving their guileless broods, to 
follow as best they may. In species where differences of plumage be- 
tween old and young are conspicuous, this is very noticeable. The adults 
of the Ringneck or Semipalmated Plover, for instance, pass us in New 
England mostly in August, and seldom do we see the pale-banded young- 
sters before September. The Golden and Black-bellied Plovers have a 
similar practice. But how do these unsophisticated young of the Sand- 
pipers find their way to their unknown habitat in the far South? Who, 
indeed, can really tell ! 
These two tiny species flock more or less together — as well as in 
company with other shore-birds — and it is not easy to tell them apart. 
The Least lacks the partial webbing between the toes, but this can hardly 
be observed at any distance. It is a trifle smaller than the Semipalmated, 
and has a reddish-hrown tint in its plumage, while 
the other tends rather to gray ; also it is perhaps more Characteristics 
fond of marsh and meadow than the Semipalmated, 
which favors beaches and flats. Both, however, are often found on the 
marsh, so this sign is by no means of general application. 
It is a wonderfully pretty sight to watch them scurrying away from 
the advancing waves on the grand, gray sea-beach, or paddling nimbly 
about on the flats or in shallow pools of the marsh. How they can 
make their little legs go! As we walk along, we may not notice the 
birds, they are so small. Suddenly arises a shrill twittering or lisping, 
and up darts the scattered party of Sandpipers. Quickly they get to- 
