CHAPTER IV 



LAND BIRDS OF THE DUNES 



" Bird of the wilderness, 

 Blythesome and cumberless, 

 Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea! 

 Emblem of happiness, 

 Blest is thy dwelling-place — 

 O to abide in the desert with thee! " 



Hogg. 



THE sandy and desert character of the 

 dunes would at first sight seem to be 

 inimical to numbers or variety in the 

 bird-life there, but the fact that the seacoast 

 is one of the great highways of bird migration 

 renders this region a particularly favored 

 spot for the ornithologist. The thickets of 

 bushes and trees are so limited in extent that 

 the bird population during the migrations is 

 often much crowded together, instead of being 

 spread out over wider areas as in upland coun- 

 try. The sea on the one side and the marsh 

 on the other are each equally inhospitable to 



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