Page 36 - August Birds in Cape Breton, 1893

ISSUE : Issue 49

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/8/1

them, crossing wide levels of sand, from which coarse grasses, sedges, and a few stiff-stalked shrubs sprung in sparse growth, and upon which a few clusters of rounded stones broke the evenness of the' beach. As I drew near the margin of the lake the sandpipers rose, "peep-sweeting" as they flew, and with deeply dipping wings vibrated away over the water; heading at first towards the fading sunset, then sweeping inshore again, and alighting with? in an eighth of a mile of me on the curved beach. Noticing that some of the birds had risen from among the grasses above the line of wave-washed sand, I lay down upon the ground, with the hope that some of them might return, and perhaps come near me. Scarcely had my outlines blended with the contour of the shore when the clear "peep, peep, peep" of the little teeterers was heard on both sides, as they came in from distant points along the shore. Sometimes twenty birds were in sight at once, flying low over the water, apparently guided by a common impulse to gain the part of the beach near which I was concealed. I lay mo? tionless, my head resting upon my arm, only a few inches above the sand. As I lay thus, the grasses rose like slender trees against the pale tinting of the August sky, and lake, distant hill, and sky all took on 539-4413 539-4415 "GOOD DEALS ON GOOD CARS!" Located on the Sydney - Glace Bay Highway Stories Six Micmj Ruth Hoi from the Worlds ic Legends by mes Whitehead A magical insight into the world of the People before the arrival of the Europeans. Thirty stories drawn from various versions re-told by world-renowned Micmac authority Ruth Whitehead: "I attempted to re-tell the stories in a voice closer to those which the original story-tellers might have used." Illustrated by Kathy Kaulbach Hardcover $24.95 ISBN 0-921054-06-8 more emphatic tones, and appeared to have firmer and more significant outlines. Slowly the light faded, and the line of clearest color shrank to narrower and nar? rower limits along the distant hills. I had almost forgotten the birds, although small squads .of them kept passing, or wheeling in upon the shining edge of wet sand nearest me. Suddenly a white object glided among the grass stems, only a few feet from my face. It paused and teetered, then slid along out of sight into a thicket of grass? es. I sharpened my vision and hearing, and found that all around me tiny forms were moving among the weeds, and that groups of birds seemed to be collecting in answer to low calls which suggested the warm, com? fortable sound which young chickens make as they nestle to sleep under their mother. The sandpipers were going to bed in the grass forest, and I was lying in the midst of their dormitory, like sleepy Gulliver among the Lilliputians. I might have re? mained quiet longer had the peeps and I been the only living creatures on the Trout Brook beach, but mosquitoes and gnats were present, and the waving grass tips tickling my face made them appear even more numerous than they really were. So at last, when stars began to appear in the sky, I rose abruptly to my feet. Had I exploded a mine, the whir and rush which followed my arising could not have been more sudden. It was really startling, for in a second the air was filled with frightened birds flying from me towards the lake. How many there were I cannot say, nor even guess, but it seemed to me that all the sandpipers which patrolled the sandy shores of Ainslie must have been gathered together on that one small area of beach, bent on finding safety Cape Breton Bed Welcome To Your Home A'nray Fromi HomeS Our Bed and Breakfast program enables you to stay with Cape Breton families and e}q>erience the Island's famous hospitality first hand. Look for our welcoming signs all across the Island: in coastal fishing villages, in the scenic highlands, dose to beaches, museums and shopping. We Invite you to come and make new blends, explore special places, sleep soundly and enjoy home cooking. A list of Bed and Breakfast homes can be obtained at any Cape Breton Tourist Associatian Cape Breton Bed and Breakfast WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME AWAY FROM HOME! ??A project of the Industrial Development Division of the Cape Breton Development Corporation Un projet de la Division du ddveloppement industriel de la soddtft de developpement du Cap-Breton

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