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SEMIl'ALMATED SANDPIPERS 



CHAPTER XII 



THE SHORE PATROL 



There is a Power whose care 

 Teaches thy way along that pathless coast. 



Bryant. 



j^ T certain seasons of the year our shores bordering on 

 iLA ocean and great lake are carefully patrolled by the 

 -A- JL crews of the Government Life-saving Service. And 

 there are seasons, too, when a feathered host is on patrol, 

 suffering few castaways — of a certain class — to be long 

 neglected. Science has a concise and suggestive name for 

 them, — Limicolse, dwellers by the shore. It is a varied and 

 numerous company, represented by forty species in eastern 

 North America. Though one of these, the Woodcock, prefers 

 the swampy thickets, and his cousin, Wilson's Snipe, the 



