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They were wiser also in many ways, for they had found out many things for themselves which is the very best sort of wisdom. Now even Dodo could tell by the footprints on the sand whether a three-toed Plover or a four-toed Sandpiper had been pattering there.
At least, Dot liked it; and Peter must have had some fondness for it, too, for he slipped on when Dot was not there herself. It just fitted their little bodies, and there were four eggs in it of which any sandpiper might well have been proud; for they were much, much bigger than most birds the size of Dot could ever lay.
There is scarce a gurgle or a bubble, but the solid timbers are polished and smooth where the storms have worn them with pebbles. From a grassy spot ahead a bird rises, marked with white, and another follows it; they are wheatears; they frequent the land by the low beach in the autumn. A shrill but feeble pipe is the cry of the sandpiper, disturbed on his moist feeding-ground.
I have, however, a Redshank in full breeding plumage, killed in Guernsey as late as the 23rd of April. Professor Ansted includes the Redshank in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the Museum. GREEN SANDPIPER. Totanus ochropus, Linnaeus. French, "Chevalier cul blanc."
The beach, once gained, was in sight both ways for miles. Not a human habitation was visible, nor a human being. Two or three gulls flew a little out from shore, and the tracks of a sandpiper led from the wet shingle to the first fringe of sandgrass higher up. "Where are the crowds?" asked Cope, with a sonorous shout. "Miles behind," replied Randolph.
There sounds a robin's note, and spring seems here again; through the night comes a white-throat's chirp, and we see again the fog-dimmed fields of a Nova Scotian upland; a sandpiper "peets" and the scene in our mind's eye as instantly changes, and so on. What a revelation if we could see as in daylight for a few moments!
Besides the woodcock and snipe, the species that are most seriously threatened with extinction at an early date are the following: SPECIES IN GREAT DANGER Of these fine species, Mr. Forbush, whose excellent knowledge of the shore birds of the Atlantic coast is well worth the most serious consideration, says that the upland plover, or Bartramian sandpiper, "is in imminent danger of extinction.
As I approached the creek, a single spotted sandpiper was teetering along the edge of the water, and the next moment a big blue heron rose just beyond him and went flapping away to the middle of the marsh. Now, an hour afterward, he is still standing there, towering above the tall grass.
A belated sandpiper flew into the cove, peeped, and flew out. The tide rose a little and said: "What is this heavy thing upon my back?" Then it rose a little more. "Why, it's poor little sister boat stuck in the mud," said the tide. From far off came joyful crackling of twigs and the sounds of children at play. The tide rose a little more and freed an end of the boat.
H.W. Tinkham, of Fall River, Mass., says of the spotted sandpiper: "Three pairs nested in a young orchard behind my house and adjacent to my garden. Cutworms and cabbage worms were their special prey. After the young could fly, they still kept at work in my garden, and showed no inclination to go to the shore until about August 15th.
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