SNIPE, SAND-PIPER AND CURLEW 
253 
the Least Sand-Piper , 1 — a trifle more minute, 
and with no web at the base of its toes. At a 
distance of ten feet the two species look precisely 
alike, and there is no need to worry about an 
exact identification. They are also called 
“Peeps,” and “Ox-eyes,” and the toes of the 
Semipalmated Sand-Piper are partly webbed. 
As the green-topped surf dashes to pieces on 
the pebbles, and goes sliding in a silvery sheet 
up the yellow sand, you will notice just above 
its frothy edge a flock of little gray sprites, 
their tiny legs twinkling as they patter swiftly 
over the smooth floor. Sometimes the sliding 
sheet of water overtakes them. If it is nearly 
spent, they mind it not; but if the rush is too 
strong, up springs the flock, all members at the 
same instant, and with quick flashes of light 
gray wings, it skims the surf-sheets or the sand, 
to a point farther on. The unison of action in 
the rising, flight, and landing of the flock is as 
perfect as if each little pair of wings were worked 
by the same wires. How does each bird know 
the impulses of all the others? Watch them, 
and see if you can guess the secret. 
At the sea-shore I never weary of watching 
these busy little creatures, and never fail to be 
amused by the twinkling of their tiny legs as 
wii.son’s snipe. 
they run before the water. As the sheet of 
surf recedes, down they run after it, to pick 
up whatever of insect or other edible animal life 
’ Ac-to-dro'mas min-u-til'la. Average length, 5.50 
inches. 
it has brought to them from the sea, or un- 
covered on the sand. 
Fortunately these birds are so small the 
gunners are not slaughtering them — as yet. 
LEAST SAND-PIPER. 
But their day of doom is not far distant. There 
is in every country on earth a lawless, miscreant 
element which is devoid of all love for Nature 
and wild life, and which sticks at nothing in 
the line of destruction. It pollutes streams, 
dynamites fish, poisons dogs, steals ash-cans 
and swill-pails, and kills song-birds for “food.” 
Some day, alas! the evil eye of this bad breed 
will fall upon the flocks of Sand-Pipers by the 
sea, and on the shores of inland lake, pond and 
stream. Then the little gray clouds will 
quickly vanish forever. To-day, however, both 
the species mentioned above are found sprinkled 
throughout the whole eastern United States, 
and they breed northward quite up to the 
arctic Barren Grounds. Wherever they are, 
they are interesting birds, and worthy of your 
friendship. 
The Long-Billed Curlew ' 1 is a bird which 
has caused much wonderment and many guesses 
in the Middle West, where on the virgin prairies 
it once was frequently seen. This bird’s trick 
of holding its wings high above its back for two 
or three seconds after it alights upon the ground 
always attracts special attention. Its cry, also, 
oft repeated in spring, is very weird and pe- 
culiar, and well calculated to make the bird 
remembered. 
This bird once was common on the rolling 
2 Nn-men'i-us lon-gi-ros'tris. Average length, 
about 23 inches; bill of adult bird, about 8 inches. 
