CHAPTER VI 



WATER BIRDS SEEN FROM THE DUNES 



" Thou little bird, thou dweller by the sea, 



Why takest thou its melancholy voice, 



And with that boding cry 



Along the breakers fly? " 



— Dana. 



W 



HILE the seacoast is a favorable re- 

 gion for the observation of land birds, 

 it is doubly so for that of water birds, 

 which stream along the coast during both 

 spring and fall in great numbers. It is much 

 to the advantage of the bird student that the 

 migration period of water birds occupies a 

 very considerable part of the year, for the fall 

 migration begins as early as the first week 

 in July, and extends through December and 

 even into January, while the spring migra- 

 tion extends from February to the middle of 

 June. Not only this, but a large number— not 

 of species, it is true, but of individuals— spend 



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