SANDPIPERS, gUAIL, AND KILDEER 
to get near her. Much more shy than the 
plover, she took to flight while the latter 
sat on a fence-post and called “ churr.” 
This little family stayed in the neighbor- 
hood several weeks, and were to be seen 
nearly every day. The efforts of the little 
ones to learn to fly were comical. At first 
the wings were lifted in running, and when 
they were two weeks old they could not 
rise from the ground more than half an 
inch, but scudded along as do little ostriches. 
They seemed to pick up their own food 
from the very first, and I never saw the 
mother feed them. Long before the sun 
had dried the dew, they scurried over the 
wet stubble, and later, when other bird 
babies were abed, they were still running 
about. 
When they were three weeks old, I again 
caught one to photograph, having made 
several failures in the mean time. This 
chase was even more lively than the first 
had been, and the mother showed greater 
distress, lying on the ground thirty feet 
155 
