May, 1916 
A POPULOUS SHORE 
103 
At high tide one day two of the Surf-birds were standing on the sand 
ridge just above the water resting from their labors, one with its back to the 
incoming waves staring ahead of it as if lost in reverie. On the beach, one 
of the silent, solitary Aphrizas would often stand facing me, as if studying 
me intently, when, though I could not read its innermost thoughts, I had a 
good chance to note its light forehead and eye line, its white underparts and 
streaked chest. Two of the droll birds were found one day engaged in an 
amusing performance that suggested the sparring of boys. One turned side- 
ways to the other as if on guard, then dropped the wing on that side and 
spread its tail till the white rump showed. The other in turn spread its tail 
and they hopped over each other, doing this a number of times. They would 
also dip their bills menacingly, and one of them sat down several times as part 
of the play. As they flew off they gave their wild key-we'-aJi. < 
When wanting to move down the beach one often flew close along under 
the green wall of the combing surf. When it alit its wings would be held 
out for an instant showing the clear white line down their length and the 
broad white base of the tail with the dusky tip. When on shore they stood 
around so much with their preoccupied dreamy gaze that, when one took wing 
and flew with swift strong wing strokes out across the surf and over the ocean, 
a disappearing white spot, you stood bewildered. Your idle dreamer was a 
child of the sea ! Perhaps when it stood on the sandy beach with preoccupied 
gaze it was dreaming of its rocky surf-dashed home to the north, or of its rocky 
surf-dashed winter home to the south. How well its wild, keen, plaintive 
key' -ah-wee tells the story ! <' 
Besides the large waders, the Godwits, Willets, and Surf-birds, there were 
flocks of little Sanderlings and Snowy Plover, looking like small chickens on 
the beach among the bigger birds. The Snowy Plover, plump, squat little 
fellows with head markings that suggest wide foreheads and backs that match 
the sand on which they love to sun themselves, when feeding on the beach 
would hurry back ahead of the foam, their short legs making them more in 
danger of getting wet than the long-legged Godwits. When resting, the 
plump little sandy-baeked fellows kept by themselves. Sometimes as I walked 
along above the line of the tide, bits of sand would take legs ahead of me, 
the brown forms that squatted in my path having been entirely overlooked. 
When I saw them before they got up, and stopped to talk to them, the con- 
fiding little fellows flatteringly sat still or went on fixing their feathers, look- 
ing very comfortable in the warm sand. To me they seemed the most winning 
and attractive of all the lovely little Sandpipers. When they were surprised 
and ran from me they did it in a comical crouching way as if knowing their 
backs were sand color and trying to hide their black legs and plump white 
bodies ! Their habit of bobbing the head is doubtless useful at times, but the 
motion often catches the eye when without it they would not be separated from 
the sand. 
The slender Sanderlings, close seconds to the Snowy Plover in attractive- 
ness, stand well up on their wiry black legs, the pure white of their bodies 
prettily accentuated by their clear black points — bill, legs, and patch at bend 
of wing. When feeding, one of them with bill down before him like the other 
waders, but with stubby tail sticking up over his back, his pretty form 
reflected in the wet sand, would start and trot fast after a retreating wave 
as its water rippled out over the small stones. Sometimes when he got a 
