THE WADERS. 
211 
large bunch of grasses ; in the centre of this is ar- 
ranged a quantity of dry weeds to the depth of sev- 
eral inches • upon this slight bed the eggs are depos- 
ited, generally four or five in number. The young, 
when first hatched, are covered with a soft black 
down, and soon learn to follow the hen through the 
wet meadows, and upon the sound of danger to enter 
the water fearlessly. 
The food of these birds consists of aquatic insects, 
snails, worms, Crustacea, and the seeds of various 
grasses which abound in the marshes where they re- 
side. Their habits are partially nocturnal, as they 
feed both by night and day. 
The families and species composing the order Gral- 
latores are so numerous, that it would be impossible, 
in the limits assigned to this work, to give even a 
slight glance at the habits of any considerable por- 
tion of them ; we must, therefore, passing over many 
familiar and interesting species, confine ourselves to 
some of the most prominent, and such as will most 
clearly illustrate the peculiar manners of the Waders. 
Late in the Autumn, when the chilling blasts from 
the regions of eternal snow are beginning to be felt 
in more southern latitudes, bringing with them myr- 
iads of the summer visitors to an Arctic climate, vast 
trains of ducks, geese, etc., to seek again their win- 
ter resorts beneath a milder sky. — then may be heard 
in the vicinity of our inland lakes and streams the 
harsh voice of the Whooping Cranes, as they pass 
swiftly overhead, in companies of from ten to fifty. 
While migrating they fly high in the air, but when 
