SANDPIPERS, QUAIL, AND KILDEER 
attention from their parents. They seemed 
to know instinctively in which direction the 
water lay, for they made straight for it, 
sometimes walking out on the lily-pads. 
The water does not seem to wet through 
the thick down that covers them, and they 
had no fear of it. I never have seen the 
parents swim, and fancy they seldom wade, 
preferring to pick up the little bugs from 
the moist sand. ' They were quite timid and 
kept at a long distance from us, so that it 
was impossible to photograph the mother 
at the nest or afterwards with her young. In 
a day or so they learned to hide in the deep 
holes made by the feet of cattle, and although 
we were assured of their proximity by the 
distress of the parent birds, a long search 
failed to discover them. However, one 
evening, strolling over their favorite feeding- 
ground by moonlight, when all well-behaved 
babies are abed, I was startled by the flight of 
two teeters ” at my feet, and feeling softly 
all around, I at last found the ten-day-old 
sandpipers snuggled down close together in a 
147 
