Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ...cold and storms, to the far-away districts of the southern continent, where it remains until the recurring season brings the desire to return to the place where last year's nest was formed and the young brood was raised. While loving solitude, it is not a morose or monkish species, shunning its kind, but is frequently met with in small companies of five or six individuals, on the banks of some quiet pool in a secluded grove, peacefully gleaning a meal from the yielding soil or surface of the placid water. As they move with a sedate walk about their chosen retreat, each bows gravely to the others, as though expressing a hope that his friend is enjoying most excellent health, or else apologizing for intruding upon so charming a retreat and such select company. At times they run rapidly along the margin of the pond, often with the wings raised high above the back, occasionally rising in the air to pursue some flying insect, which is caught with much skill and agility. The actions are light, quick at times, and graceful, and the bird flies rapidly, its neat plumage showing to great advantage when the wings are outspread, as it skims swiftly over the surface of the water, across open glades, or amid the trunks and branches of the trees. In ad SOLITARY SANDPIPER. 123 dition to such places as the one described, the Solitary Sandpiper frequents tidal creeks, and rivulets away from the sea, and occasionally salt marshes; but I have never seen it on the beach, although I believe it does visit the borders of the ocean at rare intervals. It is often seen at high elevations in damp meadows or margins of springs and pools among the mountains, where its low soft whistling note sounds mournfully amid the stillness of the surrounding forest. When...
